How do you tell a story 50 years in the making? How do you capture 50 years of achievements, moments, personal and professional relationships, and careers shaped? How do you define the exact moment collaborative and integrated care teams became the rule—not the exception—in rheumatology? To journey through the milestones that have led to the…
For 30 years, the Rheumatology Research Foundation has been working to advance research and training to improve the health of people with rheumatic diseases. The past three decades are replete with the achievement of significant milestones and extraordinary accomplishments. Funding Research, Training The Foundation’s efforts began in 1985 when it was established by the ACR….
Updated Oct. 22, 2015 (revised to delete inaccurate statistics) The cold, hard facts: This year’s rheumatology fellowship applicant pool resembles those of prior years. It is extremely diverse; every continent is represented, save Antarctica. It is somewhat larger, due in part to the growing influx of graduates from the cluster of Caribbean-based medical schools, where…
In the past decade, there has been a clear demand for and a significant increase in online learning. This was clearly documented in the 2013 report, Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States.1 The report finding demonstrated that 6.7 million students were taking at least one online course, a marked…
The Lupus Initiative (TLI) has been an emergent creation inside the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for the past six years. In 2009, the Office of Minority Health and Office of Women’s Health (now called the Office of Health Disparities) solicited an application from the ACR to develop resources for educating non-rheumatologists, both in training…
About a year ago, I stuffed all my earthly belongings into my black Volkswagen Jetta and set out on a 10-hour interstate journey. I had just graduated from residency at the University of Kentucky and was headed westward, to Iowa City, for a fresh start as a rheumatology fellow. During the 10 hours I spent…
The annual ACR State-of-the-Art (SOTA) Clinical Symposium came highly endorsed by previous fellows; therefore, upon receiving the invitation for the Fellows-in-Training (FIT) scholarship, I did not hesitate to apply. Further, the meeting was going to be held in the spring in Chi Town! Meticulously, I made arrangements with six hundred scholarship dollars at my disposal….
On July 1, 2015, the Rheumatology Research Foundation awarded more than 80 grants to a wide range of rheumatology trainees and professionals. The recipients, who submitted applications in 2014, will receive funding for essential education and training, as well as innovative research projects. Their applications were closely examined by experts in different areas of the…
Questions, concerns and spirited debate have surrounded the Graduate Medical Education (GME) system for decades. The program that trains nearly 120,000 physicians per year is under constant scrutiny.1 Changes to the political landscape, combined with ongoing efforts by health industry payers and regulators to squeeze inefficiency out of the system, have kept the GME in…
The beep of the cellphone text got me off the armchair. I had been feeling cozy and comfortable. Outside the window, it was a blissful winter wonderland—the one, I believe, Nat King Cole intended when recording “The Christmas Song.” But at the same time, I was anxious to hear whether my clinic would be canceled…