Presidential Gold Medal The highest award the ACR can bestow, the Presidential Gold Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in rheumatology over an entire career. This year’s award went to James O’Dell, MD, the Stokes-Shackleford Professor of Internal Medicine, vice chair of internal medicine and chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the…
To the Members of the American College of Rheumatology, I had the honor and privilege of becoming the ACR’s 83rd president during the annual meeting in Atlanta in November 2019. My aspirations for the year were ambitious, filled with hopes of leading the ACR and the field of rheumatology forward in many new and bold…
Case Presentation History of present illness A 66-year-old white woman presented with unexplained, recurrent episodes of high fever, abdominal pain, rash and arthralgias occurring over the previous three years. During typical episodes, the patient experienced flu-like symptoms, followed by fever, abdominal pain and non-bloody diarrhea without tenesmus. Her temperatures were 101–103ºF, with chills lasting up…
In 1905, two pediatricians in Vienna, Austria, published Serum Sickness, a detailed 120-page monograph that was the first to carefully characterize the syndrome.1 The work would go on to become a classic, ultimately helping illuminate many important questions in immunology. Antitoxin Serum Treatments In the late 19th century, researchers were working to develop lifesaving antitoxins…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—In 2020, terms like unconscious bias, diversity and inclusivity are buzzwords in rheumatology, as well as throughout American society. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed stark disparities in healthcare outcomes for rheumatic disease patients of racial and ethnic minorities, including new research that shows Black and Latinx patients have a higher risk of hospitalization and…
ACR Convergence 2020—At two plenary sessions, speakers highlighted key findings, including results on the QTc interval in patients on hydroxychloroquine, and data from a study on denosumab vs. alendronate for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. The QTc Interval & Hydroxychloroquine The safety profile and optimal dosing of hydroxychloroquine has been a topic for decades because it is known…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—At the ACR’s fully virtual annual meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, ACR President Ellen M. Gravallese, MD, chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, presented the inaugural ACR Distinguished Global Public Health Award to Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—A scientific session on Sunday, Nov. 8, focused on vaccine prospects in COVID-19. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, shared his insights about vaccine development across…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—At the ACR’s fully virtual annual meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, delivered a special lecture on COVID-19, from virology to therapy to vaccine development. Novel Coronavirus, Familiar Vectors When Chinese physicians first reported infections by what…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been postulated to develop in several phases, with inherited susceptibility factors in some cases leading to asymptomatic (or preclinical) citrullinated protein-directed autoimmunity, followed, after some interval, by the development of synovial infiltration and polyarticular disease. We know early treatment of RA is critical to reduce disease symptoms and slow…