Dr. Rubin’s interest in medicine began when he was a boy. His father, who didn’t go to college, often told him, “[you’re] going to become a doctor. So I grew up thinking, ‘Oh, I have to be a doctor.’” He followed this path, also pursuing his love of science by becoming a laboratory scientist.
Serving as the NEJM editor in chief is an amazing job, says Dr. Rubin. He reads every submission and interacts with all manuscripts through each step along the road to publication. “It’s all the best articles in medicine being presented in detail by an expert in the area,” he says.
Once a week, Dr. Rubin gets together with all of the editors to review submissions that have a chance of being published in the journal. They discuss each one in terms of truth, importance, ethics and “whether or not if we publish it, the conclusion will cause doctors to do the right thing or do the wrong thing.” This hashing out has “import for what happens to a patient,” he says.
“It’s absolutely fascinating,” says Dr. Rubin. “It’s the best journal club in all of medicine. I really, really enjoy it.”
About ACR Convergence 2020
The ACR recognizes the incredible challenges this year has presented and that it may be difficult to channel your energy into other topics. But focusing on the future will help keep us moving forward. ACR Convergence 2020 (the new name for the ACR’s annual meeting) will be our first fully virtual annual meeting, taking place Nov. 5–9, in which the global rheumatology community can collaborate, innovate and learn. Get the details at https://www.rheumatology.org/Annual-Meeting.
Catherine Kolonko is a medical writer based in Oregon.
