Welcoming you to ACR Convergence 2025
The rapid advancement of discoveries that benefit patients is one of many rewarding aspects of rheumatology. With these advancements, though, comes the responsibility and privilege of lifelong learning.
Through a spectrum of offerings, the ACR and ARP deliver individualized educational options. Because each person can choose the method of delivery and content that fit their needs, the ACR/ARP allows members to achieve their knowledge goals.
Journals & Publications
The ACR/ARP journals and publications cover a wide range of rheumatology content. ACR/ARP members can access College journals online through their member account at rheumatology.org.
- Arthritis & Rheumatology publishes the highest quality basic and clinical research related to rheumatic disease, encompassing a wide range of investigative activity.
- Arthritis Care & Research includes original research and reviews focused on clinical studies, practice guidelines, public health issues, health economics and healthcare policy.
- ACR Open Rheumatology provides electronically accessible original investigations and reviews on all aspects of rheumatology-related research.
- The Rheumatologist is an award-winning news magazine featuring clinical analyses, updates from academic rheumatology and the business of rheumatology, discussions of legislation impacting care and news from the College.
Guidelines
Winter Rheumatology Symposium 2025. (Click to enlarge.)
The ACR has developed guidelines across a range of rheumatic diseases. Through review of the guidelines and the evidence-based publications that form their foundations, clinicians have found these to be valuable educational tools informing their recommendations based on each patient’s individual circumstances (https://rheumatology.org/clinical-practice-guidelines).
Webinars
The ACR webinars provide information on recent updates through virtual programming. Recent webinars include the ACR Global Webinar Series, designed for an international audience to promote understanding of rheumatology on a global scale, and the ACR Convergence Replay series, combining sessions from the meeting with live Q&A from the presenters.
Podcasts
ACR podcast episodes are released weekly and offer learning that fits into each person’s schedule (https://rheumatology.org/podcasts). Members can subscribe to podcasts over their preferred listening platform (Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts), through which they can receive notifications about new episodes.
ACR on Air podcasts
- ACR on Air provides informative interviews and conversations regarding the ever-changing landscape of rheumatology. Podcast content varies, making this of interest to a wide range of learners, with recent topics including practice management, advocacy and disease-focused discussions (https://rheumatology.org/acr-on-air-podcast).
- ACR Journals on Air features interviews, commentary and analysis on research published in ACR/ARP journals. During these podcasts, authors and independent experts examine published studies, their implications for clinical care and how these findings move rheumatology forward.
Meetings
In-person meetings remain an important part of the ACR/ARP education portfolio, not only because of their impactful research and clinical content, but also for the opportunities they present to develop connections and collaborations within our rheumatology community.
Winter Rheumatology Symposium
The Winter Rheumatology Symposium (WRS) provides practical clinical information on the diagnosis and management of patients with rheumatic disease in a five-day conference held in the beautiful surroundings of Snowmass, Colo. Lectures from world experts are combined with interactive discussions, optimized by the relaxed learning environment. Registration is open for next year’s WRS, to be held Jan. 25–29, 2026 (https://rheumatology.org/meetings/winter-rheumatology-symposium).
SOTA
ACR Convergence 2024 Year in Review. (Click to enlarge.)
During the State-of-the-Art (SOTA) Clinical Symposium, key opinion leaders deliver content covering therapeutic developments and recent research findings that can be applied to patient care. SOTA is conducted over a weekend, allowing busy clinicians to remain updated on the latest knowledge in rheumatology without taking time away from their practices. In 2026, SOTA will be held April 24–26 in Rosemont, Ill., convenient to O’Hare International Airport. Registration for SOTA is anticipated to open mid-October 2025.
PRSYM
The Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium (PRSYM) is a three-day conference that includes clinical and basic science in pediatric rheumatic disease. PRSYM includes invited lecturers and presentations of original science from accepted abstracts in poster and oral concurrent sessions. PRSYM will next be held March 18–21, 2026, in Minneapolis, with registration anticipated to open in mid-September 2025.
ACR Convergence
ACR Convergence 2025 will be here before you know it! This year’s conference will be held Oct. 24–29 in Chicago (https://rheumatology.org/annual-meeting). As the premier rheumatology conference, ACR Convergence provides the latest research advances, education impacting clinical practice and networking opportunities with collaborators, colleagues and friends.
Scientific sessions start Oct. 26, and will include important learning sessions, such as the Year in Review, Plenary and Late-Breaking Abstract presentations, Meet the Professor, Poster Tours, Knowledge Bowl and Memorial Lectures.
This year, ACR Convergence offers a number of exciting advance programming sessions:
- Practice Innovation Summit (Oct. 24–25) is designed specifically for clinicians, practice managers and interprofessional team members in community and private practice settings, and seeks to share strategies and expert insights needed to build a thriving private practice in today’s evolving healthcare landscape;
- Rheumatology Global Summit (Oct. 24) highlights the international burden of rheumatic diseases, and the challenges and opportunities encountered in different health systems;
- Fellows-in-Training Program (Oct. 24);
- Basic and Intermediate-Advanced Ultrasound Conferences (Oct. 24–25) are intensive, two-day, hands-on conferences designed for rheumatology professionals who want to learn how to perform ultrasound (https://rheumatology.org/meetings/ultrasound-conferences);
- Review Course (Oct. 25);
- Basic & Clinical Research Conference (Oct. 25); this year’s focus is on immune-related adverse events and agonism of immune checkpoints to treat autoimmune disease and CAR T and beyond: cellular therapies in autoimmune disease;
- Radiology Bootcamp (Oct. 25) includes sessions on imaging manifestations of crystal arthropathies, large vessel vasculitis and axial imaging in inflammatory arthropathy;
- Opening Session (Oct. 25, 4–6 p.m. CDT) includes updates from ACR, ARP and Rheumatology Research Foundation leadership, presentation of the ACR/ARP Awards of Distinction and the opening lecture. This year’s invited speaker is Tait Shanafelt, MD, chief wellness officer at Stanford University, who is an internationally recognized thought leader in health professional well-being, burnout and its impact on patient quality of care; and
- Grand Opening Networking Event (Oct. 25, 6:15–7:15 p.m. CDT) will immediately follow the Opening General Session.
The ACR and ARP strive to be the place that you come to stay updated in rheumatology. We invite you to examine all of our educational content and find those programs that best fit your individual needs. We look ahead with excitement to ACR Convergence 2025 and welcoming everyone to Chicago!
Carol A. Langford, MD, MHS, is the director of the Center for Vasculitis Care and Research in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases at Cleveland Clinic, where she is professor of medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and holds the Harold C. Schott endowed chair in rheumatic and immunologic diseases.
