Summer 2023’s Awards, Appointments & Announcements in Rheumatology

Mr. Nelessen says he will be searching out opportunities for strategic alliances with other organizations, “with a collective view to really change and continue to drive different outcomes for this disease state.”

Ethan Craig, MD, MHS, Named Vice Chief for Clinical Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania

In August 2022, Ethan Craig, MD, MHS, an assistant professor of clinical medicine, Division of Rheumatology, the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; a rheumatologist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center; and a past associate editor of this publication, added a new role to his résumé. He became vice chief for clinical affairs in the Division of Rheumatology.

His main challenge in the role, he says, is to balance how to equitably and effectively deliver care to patients “despite the workforce shortage in rheumatology.” One way to achieve this goal, he says, will be to triage patients’ cases, using advanced care practitioners, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, to handle follow-ups with stable patients. That would free up rheumatologists to see new patients and those with complex conditions.

Dr. Craig notes that a third of his time is devoted to clinical care at the VA. With a new child, he has stepped back temporarily on additional duties. What he finds most compelling about rheumatology as a subspecialty are the key elements that first attracted him to choose the field: the complex puzzles of disease presentation and the ability to improve patients’ lives.

Although he characterizes himself as a late decider—having first considered specializing in neurology or infectious disease—he recalls a coincidental rotation in his internship year at the University of Minnesota clinched his choice of specialty. “I was assigned to the rheumatology service for a month, working with Elie Gertner, MD, FACR, head of internal medicine/medical education, at Regions Hospital, and completely fell in love with the complexities of rheumatology patients there.”

In addition, Dr. Craig says enthusiastically, advances in disease management—and not just the exciting biologics—give rheumatologists the ability to make “a huge difference in people’s day to day quality of life and functioning.”

Gretchen Henkel is a health and medical journalist based in California.