On April 30, 2023, the world lost Richard Brasington Jr., MD, FACP, MACR, an illustrious clinical puzzle master who stopped at nothing to do right by his patients—and to ensure the next generation of rheumatologists would be properly trained. Dr. Brasington, a former associate editor of The Rheumatologist and emeritus professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WUSTL), was internationally appreciated for his clinical acumen, as well as for his compassionate care.
“Rick was a great guy and a strong ally and advocate for the pages of The Rheumatologist,” says former physician editor Simon Helfgott, MD, director of Rheumatology Education and Fellowship Training, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Rheumatology Immunity and Inflammation and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston. “He was passionate about doing the right thing and never shied away from a debate.”
“Rick and I met when I was an intern in medicine at Washington University and he was program director for rheumatology. Initially, I had zero interest in this field and was considering cardiology—in part because rheumatology seemed cryptic. However, I was swayed because Rick made it sound approachable from a problem-solving perspective.
“I was part of a physician/scientist training program, and Rick convinced me that there were a lot of opportunities to integrate rheumatology with bench research. He made rheumatology exciting from a clinical standpoint and assured me that the mysteries in rheumatology were opportunities, not things to be feared,” says Dr. Kim.
In 2018, Dr. Brasington was recognized as an ACR Master. This prestigious honor is conferred on ACR members who are age 65 or older by Oct. 1 of the year in which they are nominated, and who have made outstanding contributions to the ACR and the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students and profession.
“Rick had exceptional clinical acumen,” says Dr. Kim, “which I tried to emulate at every possible turn. He was truly a clinical virtuoso, able to detect subtleties in someone’s history and physical exam that would allow him to arrive at a diagnosis that most clinicians would miss. For example, we once had a patient who appeared to have lupus due to positive anti-nuclear antibodies and double-stranded DNA tests, a rash in the malar distribution and joint pain, but a fuzzy history of photosensitivity. As a fellow I thought it had to be lupus. But Rick knew something was amiss with the patient history and posited a diagnosis of sarcoidosis—which then was found on a skin biopsy. I was astonished.”
