President’s Corner: The Practicing Rheumatologist

Patient Education

The ACR provides a wide range of patient-directed materials to assist clinicians in their goal of empowering patients through knowledge about their disease and treatment. These include information on some of the most common rheumatic diseases and conditions, as well as medication fact sheets, most of which are available in both English and Spanish.

Clinicians play a vital role not only for their patients, but also for the ACR and ARP. Community-based rheumatologists serve in many different volunteer capacities throughout the College, including within our committees, on the Board of Directors, and on the Executive Committee. The voice of the clinician is essential to every aspect of the ACR and ARP, and I openly invite our members in practice to join our volunteer team.

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.