The Rheumatologist
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
  • Technology
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • Events
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
    • From the College
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Arthritis & Rheumatology
    • Arthritis Care & Research
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Research Reviews
    • Annual Meeting
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
    • Rheumatology Image Bank
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Rheumatologist Shares ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium Experience

Rheumatologist Shares ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium Experience

July 13, 2015 • By Wambui Machua, MD, BS

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

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!

You Might Also Like
  • State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium Sessions Available Through SessionSelect
  • ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium
  • Enhance Your Education with the State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium
Explore this issue
July 2015

Meticulously, I made arrangements with six hundred scholarship dollars at my disposal. That meant arriving in Chicago at 6:45 a.m. from Atlanta, thanks to the CST one-hour gain, then heading straight to the meeting at 8:00 a.m. to stretch my budget by saving on one night’s stay. Although I had dreaded getting tired throughout the day, the TED Talk-like FIT program speakers were phenomenal, and there was never a dull moment.

Morning topics comprised various aspects of career choices and contract negotiations in academic, private practice and industry settings. These were very informative and prime for me, having just gone through my first rheumatology job search and still quite on edge. I kept mental checks of what I had done or failed to do during the process. Needless to say, it gave me fodder for thought and equipped me for one more chance to negotiate. Later, during the evening social, I made friends with some first-year fellows and ruminated on how this program prepared them well in advance for their career decision-making process. The session on consultative medicine was very effective in communicating how to overcome obstacles to facilitate teaching residents and reinforcing good teaching principles that would stay with us forever. The roundtable discussions were like musical chairs as we shuttled around different tables conversing about how to prepare for boards, balancing work and family life, and careers in private practice and academics.

In the afternoon, the variety of presentations kept everyone actively involved, learning through potpourri cases, pediatric rheumatology highlights, advocacy, immunodeficiency and autoimmunity. Finally, we had breakout sessions that included overviews on must-know dermatological conditions, teaching effectiveness on consult service along with demonstrations, and hands-on joint, neurological and scleroderma skin scoring examinations with experts and actual patients.

The meeting format provided time to mingle and network with other rheumatologists. From sitting down for breakfast to chatting during breaks, I met colleagues who were willing to offer advice or just chuckle and laugh about different things, including the lack of a laser pointer! The following day and a half amazingly covered many topics in depth. These included stem cell research in scleroderma, RA therapies, OA, lupus, statin myopathy, paraneoplastic syndromes, infections in rheumatic diseases, Paget’s, imaging, pulmonary hypertension, ILD, pulmonary toxicity of rheumatic therapies, spondyloathropathies, inflammatory eye disease and vasculitis.

Pages: 1 2 Single Page

Filed Under: Education & Training, From the College, Professional Topics Tagged With: AC&R, clinical symposium, Education, rheumatologist, TrainingIssue: July 2015

You Might Also Like:
  • State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium Sessions Available Through SessionSelect
  • ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium
  • Enhance Your Education with the State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium
  • State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium Scheduled for April 26–27 in Chicago

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official web site for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

ACR Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the ACR Meeting Abstracts site »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2018 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.