“We need the community to know that the Foundation is an absolutely critical resource for research, fellowship training and attracting medical students and advanced practice providers to the field,” she says. “We are at a critical time now, and if we are to increase funding so we can offer more research grants, recruit more diverse people and increase the workforce pipeline to respond to the much-lower-than-expected number of people forecast to enter the field, we need everyone in the rheumatology community to feel they are a part of the Foundation and stand behind it.”
Dr. Fraenkel is looking forward to supporting outreach efforts throughout the coming year and into her term as Foundation president.
“Under the direction of current president V. Mike Holers, MD, the Board has already formed a new Impact Advisory Council to explore ways to communicate our mission and the impact our Foundation has had on the rheumatology community, so we can enlarge this community and broaden our support,” says Dr. Fraenkel. “We want all of us in the rheumatology community to feel this really is our Foundation, and it is something we can take great pride in.”
Leslie Mertz, PhD, is a freelance science journalist based in northern Michigan.
