TR: Looking beyond 2026, what do you see as important challenges facing the College?
Dr. Harvey: Without the support of research into rheumatic diseases and their treatments, neither the current nor the next generation of patients will have the treatments they need. For example, if research funding goes away, that cuts off the pipeline of people who are training to be researchers, and since it takes a long time to go from training to becoming a successful researcher who is making discoveries, that can mean a generation of researchers lost. So we have to support needed reforms to the National Institutes of Health that will allow it to reinvigorate itself over the course of the next few years.
In addition, we need Medicare and Medicaid reform to help patients gain access to the treatments they need. It won’t matter how many new treatments we discover if those treatments are expensive and the coverage isn’t there for the patient to access the medication.
TR: Let’s talk about you personally. You have a full plate as a clinician, researcher, professor and administrator, but you still volunteer for the ACR. Why?
Dr. Harvey: The reason I volunteer is because of my love for the specialty, which has given me so much joy and fulfillment in the work that I’m able to do. In my personal journey, the College has always been there to give me new experiences and to teach me new things about being a better physician and a better leader, so it’s really become my passion to try to give some of that back.
TR: What would you like to share about yourself to help readers get to know you a bit better?
Dr. Harvey: Let’s see. I really enjoy cooking. Part of it is that things don’t always go exactly the way you expect. Maybe you run out of an ingredient or you find something that might be a nice addition to a recipe, so you adapt, you try something different, and it works out: You end up with something that is nourishing and fulfilling at the end of the day.
I approach rheumatology with the same attitude: The path may have some obstacles, but if you are willing to try something new, you can find a way forward.
What can I say? I have a lot of positivity that I hope is a little bit infectious.
