Prior to the poster session, we presented our posters in small groups. This audience, also comprising peers and ECIs, provided feedback from their different areas of focus and levels of expertise. The larger poster session, with an adjoining reception (with heavy appetizers and cocktails), provided an opportunity to network in a cozier environment than the huge, jam-packed ACR/ARP Annual Meeting poster session.
Demystifying the NIH
On the second day, a morning session was devoted to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Michael Ombrello, MD, PhD, head of the Translational Genetics and Genomics Unit of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, opened with a talk demystifying the structure of the NIH and the pathway to independence (i.e., tenure track). The alphabet soup of grant funding was translated into plain English for the uninitiated. His talk was followed by a breakout question-and-answer session with NIH program officers. They provided a behind-the-scenes take on proposal fatal flaws and what goes on inside study sections.
Above all, the Rheumatology Research Workshop was a chance to meet like-minded peers at other institutions, as well as ECI role models. This was a Twitter-active meeting with its own hashtag, #RRW19, and I had the chance to meet mutual followers from this social media platform. When the sessions ended for the day, I had the opportunity to walk around Washington, D.C., and enjoy the summer sun (still a scarcity that time of year in Seattle), with plenty of breaks for ice cream and tourism.
2020 Workshop Applications Due Feb. 10
Applications to attend the 2020 Rheumatology Research Workshop, to be held in La Jolla, Calif., June 20–21, are due Feb. 10. The application requires an abstract for a research project, and trainees are eligible for a $500 travel scholarship. Abstracts detailing study design protocols, research in progress and preliminary results, in addition to completed studies, are eligible for consideration.
I encourage students, residents, fellows and junior faculty interested in integrating research into their career, whether it be basic science, translational or clinical, to attend.
Jean Liew, MD (@rheum_cat), is a senior fellow and acting instructor in the Division of Rheumatology, University of Washington, Seattle.
