Teaching junior learners, such as medical students and residents, is increasingly important in rheumatology. Given the anticipated shortage of rheumatologists, attracting more trainees to our field and enhancing knowledge of the rheumatic diseases among physicians in other fields are critical to meeting the needs of our patients.1,2 In addition, clinical reasoning is a vital skill…
Rheumatology Research Foundation Fuels Pipeline of Next-Gen Providers
One aspect of the Rheumatology Research Foundation’s work is recruiting more people into the field, and it starts by building interest in rheumatology among the best and brightest medical and graduate students. The Foundation is fueling the pipeline of rheumatology professionals by supporting students, residents and fellows in a number of ways, such as with…
From Dog Clickers to Scripts—Thoughts on Learning to Teach
You can purchase a dog clicker for about $3 on Amazon. If you don’t own a dog, this is not a useful piece of information. I don’t own a dog, and the first time I heard the phrase dog clicker, I thought—I think understandably—that it was some sort of remote control. If you don’t own…
Rheumatology Research Foundation Grants 63 Education, Training, Research Awards
On July 3, the Rheumatology Research Foundation announced the names of 63 rheumatology trainees, educators, clinicians, investigators and health professionals who will receive Foundation-funded awards. In support of the Foundation’s mission to improve the health of people with rheumatic diseases, the awards help recruit and train the next generation of rheumatology professionals and advance research…
Preceptorships, Mentors Steer Rheumatology
Brian Le, MD, a rheumatology fellow at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University (MCG), credits an excellent mentor and two Rheumatology Research Foundation preceptorships with guiding his career toward rheumatology. “Working with Dr. Laura Carbone has opened up a lot of doors for me,” says Dr. Le. “I wouldn’t have such a great relationship with…
Rheumatology Research Foundation Helps Medical Student Find Direction, Purpose
Medical resident, Brian Le, opted to pursue rheumatology after completing a preceptorship funded by the Foundation
The REF Preceptorship Experience
The ACR Workforce Study estimated that nearly half of practicing rheumatologists will retire within eight years, which means that by 2025, there will be a severe shortage of rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals in the United States.
A Preceptorship Comes Full Circle
Ephraim P. Engleman, MD, has spent his career drawing attention to the field of rheumatology. Widely regarded as one of the founders of the modern practice of rheumatology, this 98-year-old director of the Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is still working hard at promoting the field.
Life Lessons and Career Empowerment
Since he was a high-school freshman, Nathan Faulkner has known he was going to pursue a career in medicine. Trauma to his left eye sparked his interest in the anatomy and physiology of the eye, and he originally considered a career in ophthalmology.
Better Physicians—One Student at a Time
For Maribeth Morral, a third-year medical student at Penn State College of Medicine in State College, Pa., and ACR Research and Education Foundation (REF) Preceptorship winner, her first exposure to rheumatology was the product of a chance encounter. In the first year of medical school at Penn State, students are assigned to track a chronically ill patient throughout the year as a learning experience. Morral’s patient happened to be an 11-year-old girl diagnosed with juvenile RA.