First Non-Rheumatologist Health Professional Attends the ACR/EULAR International Exchange Program

“There was something different about meeting them face-to-face, getting to see their institution and then discussing ideas,” she adds. “That’s what helped propel our work forward.”

Advancing Knowledge

While presenting three posters on her arthritis research at the conference, she also met other researchers who are investigating joint hypermobility, a topic of interest she is currently studying. Dr. Golightly says their constructive feedback was “especially helpful” and prompted her to develop ideas for future research.

“We had some conversations about different ways to define joint hypermobility,” she says, explaining that it’s a condition in which a person’s joints have a greater degree of mobility than what is normally expected. “The project I’m working on now is primarily focusing on one definition. So now we’re exploring a few different definitions that will help determine if our results are robust.”

As part of the conference’s agenda, Dr. Golightly participated in a daylong site visit at the Centre for Experimental Medicine and Rheumatology at the William Harvey Research Institute and attended a half-day workshop for ACR/EULAR awardees who had participated in the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. She says health professionals learned from each other about advances in arthritis research and treatment.

‘By the end of the conference, we had developed an international foot & ankle osteoarthritis working group,’ says Dr. Golightly. … ‘There are many researchers throughout the world who study the foot & ankle, such as those in Australia, whom we’d like to join our group.’

Dr. Golightly and her son, between EULAR meetings.

In the past, Dr. Golightly says, most of the conferences she attended were held in the U.S. This program gave her the opportunity to connect with world-class researchers and clinicians throughout Europe whom she may have never met due to a variety of reasons, including limited travel funds. Dr. Golightly and other members of her working group are trying to secure funds for one UK researcher to visit her at UNC.

She encourages other health professionals in rheumatology to apply for this award so they can attend future ACR/EULAR Exchange Programs. The next one will be held in Madrid, from June 14–17. Learn more.

“I left the conference with more ideas than initially anticipated,” says Dr. Golightly. “It was a valuable experience connecting with other researchers from different countries whom I normally don’t get to see. Personally meeting with them has definitely helped develop my research and career in rheumatology.”