Carol Langford with incoming ACR President William Harvey. (Click to enlarge.)
I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by. It seems like it was just yesterday when I was writing my first President’s Corner article, shortly after accepting the gavel from Deborah Dyett Desir, MD, to become the 88th president of the ACR. Now, it is my turn to pass that gavel over to our next ACR President, William Harvey, MD, MSc, who will be a great leader for our organization (see his Q&A here).
I am truly thankful for every minute I have had in serving this amazing organization and its members over the past year. Coming into this role, I was told that every president faces at least one challenge. And yes, 2025 has had challenges, faced not just by me, but more importantly by our patients and by all of us in the house of medicine. These challenges have come from many different fronts: threats to research that could impact the progress of scientific discovery, barriers to access and delivery of care by clinicians, medical misinformation, the rise of health inequities, and risks to inclusion and respect for every individual.
Advocacy in Action
Coming into this year, one of the main knowledge gaps in my ACR volunteer portfolio was that I had spent limited time involved in advocacy. I am very appreciative of my colleagues who possessed those advocacy skills and our amazing advocacy staff who helped me to rapidly address this gap, which was so necessary in 2025.
During this time, I gained incredible respect for the importance of advocacy in assuring that the voice of rheumatology is heard. The ACR is fortunate to have a skilled and experienced staff team based in Washington, D.C., which enabled us to be at the forefront of emerging actions and policy decisions and who actively delivered our vital messages. Working together with our Government Affairs, RheumPAC, and Rheumatologic Care committees, the 2025 ACR/ARP advocacy team spoke in a firm and meaningful way on behalf of rheumatology practitioners, investigators, and the patients they serve.
Working as a Team
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, every professional organization has tackled new issues, to which the ACR is no different. While many of us expected to return to life as usual, we emerged needing to navigate within a changed world, both as individuals and as organizations.
Joining the Planning Committee at the Winter Rheumatology Symposium 2025. (Click to enlarge.)
The ACR/ARP has come through this time with strength and resiliency based on one shared characteristic—we have worked as a team with a steadfast focus on our mission. This team is broad and includes the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, committees, and very importantly, our dedicated ACR/ARP staff. There have been many vital keys to our team’s success, including effective communication, having unique and varied voices around the table, and making decisions based on serving the organizational mission. Our members represent the final element of that unified team and ensuring that ACR/ARP programs reflect the goals and needs of our membership has been essential toward achieving the organizational vision of advancing the future of rheumatology.
Mission Moments
This year, each meeting of the ACR Board of Directors began with individual board members discussing their own Mission Moments, a time or event meaningful to them when they saw the ACR mission in action. By the end of the year, seeing how these differing moments cut across each aspect of the ACR/ARP and reflected every discipline spoke to the ways in which our organization truly comes together as a team in serving our rheumatology community.
Meeting Members
During this year, two of my priority areas focused on education and enhancing connections between the ACR and its members. In addressing these, I endeavored to engage in every aspect of the ACR’s educational portfolio, including our in-person symposia. I also had opportunities in 2025 to attend several state and regional society meetings where rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals came together both for education and for advocacy regarding local and state issues impacting patient care.
Attending these meetings enabled me to engage one-on-one with members, listen to their needs and concerns, and hear their thoughts on the role of the ACR/ARP in their professional lives. These discussions brought home how the wide reach of the ACR/ARP can impact members in a positive way, which will always remain a foremost priority of our organization.
With Gratitude
Carol Langford with ACR Executive Vice President Steven Echard. (Click to enlarge.)
In leaving this year, I come away with tremendous gratitude for having had the opportunity to serve in this position and for the many people who have supported me and the ACR/ARP during this year. Being involved with the ACR has been an incredibly meaningful part of my life, throughout each role in which I served. I would encourage everyone to pursue volunteer engagement with the ACR/ARP, as your voice is needed and valued.
I wish to extend my sincere thanks to all of the volunteers and staff I have had the privilege of serving with. Your skills and dedication are what made this year possible and what will continue to sustain and grow the ACR, ARP and Rheumatology Research Foundation in the years to come.
My final and deepest thanks is to you, our members, for all that you do in the service of our patients. Please know that the ACR/ARP is your organization—supporting you and your goals represents the reason this organization exists. Whether you are a clinical rheumatologist, a fellow in training, a rheumatology professional, or an investigator conducting basic, translational, clinical, or health services research, you are vital to the specialty of rheumatology. Working together as one unified rheumatology community, we can and will make a difference in improving the lives of those with rheumatic disease.
Carol A. Langford, MD, MHS, is the director of the Center for Vasculitis Care and Research in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases at Cleveland Clinic, where she is professor of medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and holds the Harold C. Schott endowed chair in rheumatic and immunologic diseases.