New Committee Chair Wants to Connect ACR Members Through Education

Marcy Bolster, MD, views education as a high priority in rheumatology clinical practice and research, not only during fellowship training but also throughout one’s entire professional career. A professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Dr. Bolster wants to foster opportunities for rheumatologists and other specialists to connect through education.

Dr. Bolster

As she steps into a new role as chair of the ACR’s Committee on Education, Dr. Bolster shares some of her thoughts on education and her ideas for the committee with The Rheumatologist.

The Rheumatologist (TR): How did you end up becoming chair of the Committee on Education?

Dr. Bolster: Being part of the committee relates to my lifelong professional commitment to education across the spectrum of learners. I am a program director and have a strong sense of dedication to education, for rheumatology fellows as well as for medical students and internal medicine trainees. I am also involved in educational initiatives for peers, including colleagues within and outside of rheumatology.

I recently was a member-at-large for the ACR Board of Directors (BOD), and I would say educational initiatives are very high priority across the entire College. Education intersects with many—actually nearly all—of the ACR’s other committees, and I hope my perspective from my time on the BOD will be helpful. As I join the Committee on Education as the new chair, I look forward to listening and learning about progress that’s already been made, the many accomplishments and innovative ideas, then working together with the many subcommittee and committee members to foster areas for new growth.

The Committee on Education provides [many types of] content, and there is tremendous opportunity and value for education as a connection for each of us with our colleagues. ACR Convergence is a hub for education and connectivity. There is great energy at this meeting. It would be great to continue the collegiality, connectedness and learning through the ACR throughout the entire year.

TR: How have you previously been involved in volunteering with the ACR?

Dr. Bolster: I have been involved in the ACR for my entire career. I was most recently on the Board of Directors from 2021 to 2024, and I was a member of and then a subsequent chair of the Committee on Training, which used to be called the Committee on Training and Workforce. I was involved in the 2015 Workforce Study and helped to launch Rheum2Learn, which is a set of online modules to help internists and medical students learn more about rheumatology.