An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Highlights from the ACR Review Course 2022

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PHILADELPHIA—At ACR Convergence 2022, the much-anticipated ACR Review Course featured talks from eight experts. Topics reflected the heterogeneity of our field and included Sjögren’s disease, spondyloarthritis (SpA), osteoarthritis (OA), paraneoplastic rheumatic syndromes, metabolic bone disease, statin myopathy, Raynaud’s phenomenon and autoinflammatory syndrome. Here, I share highlights from this comprehensive, six-hour session. Sjögren’s Disease Sara S….

String of Pearls: Lessons in Rheumatoid Arthritis

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PHILADELPHIA—William “Bill” R. Palmer, MD, MACR, was the first board-certified rheumatologist in Omaha, Neb., where he spent his entire 43-year clinical career and established himself as a great clinician, mentor and educator. Although Dr. Palmer passed away from metastatic thyroid cancer in August 2021, his memory lives on through his physician colleagues and at ACR…

To Treat or Not to Treat? The Great Debate on Treatment of Subclinical Rheumatoid Arthritis

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PHILADELPHIA—One of the great advancements in the field of rheumatology in recent years has been the increased understanding of various stages of disease in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including what is termed subclinical rheumatoid arthritis. However, questions remain regarding whether to treat patients with subclinical disease and whether treatment of these patients has implications in preventing…

The Complexity of SLE Drug Research

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PHILADELPHIA—On Saturday, Nov. 12, at ACR Convergence 2022, Joan T. Merrill, MD, director of clinical projects in the Arthritis & Clinical Immunology Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City, gave a presentation on the future of drug development and treatments for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She described how an in-depth understanding of…

The Secret to Happiness

Philip Seo, MD, MHS  |  

Are you happy? This may be a question born of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, I used to quote William Osler, MD, who simultaneously founded the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and created the modern system of medical education. He opined: The practice of medicine will be very much as you make it—to one,…

What You Need to Know About COVID-19 & Therapies for Rheumatic Diseases

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PHILADELPHIA—Since March 2020, the world has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rheumatologists must understand how to best protect and treat their patients with autoimmune conditions at risk for infection due to immunosuppressive therapy. At ACR Convergence 2022, the session titled, Latest COVID and Rheumatic Disease Therapies: What You Need to Know, provided…