Swamy Venuturupalli, MD: Improving Access to Education

Early in his medical career, Swamy Venuturupalli, MD, sought clinical direction toward a specialty that allowed him to look at the patient in multiple domains, and he found a perfect fit in rheumatology.

His passion for understanding the many aspects of rheumatic disease led Dr. Venuturupalli to become actively involved in the Rheumatology Fellowship Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, where he cared for patients along with the rheumatology fellows.

Today, in his work as founder and director of Attune Health, a clinic in Beverly Hills, Calif., that focuses on autoimmunity and inflammation care and research, Dr. Venuturupalli continues to advance knowledge in rheumatology practice.

He believes that educational modalities for rheumatologists need to be tailored to accommodate the many challenges rheumatologists face today, including time constraints.

Ambitious Goals for the Year Ahead
Stepping into his new role as chair of the ACR’s Committee on Education is more of a continuation of the eight years he’s already spent volunteering with the College in shaping educational offerings for the Annual Meeting. As part of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee clinical team, he worked to introduce and expand the TechMed track.

Having first become an ACR member in 2000 during his rheumatology fellowship, Dr. Venuturupalli has experienced the evolution of educational offerings from the ACR over nearly two decades.

“We are constantly needing to keep abreast of what is going on in our field, and this can be a challenge when we are inundated by different sources of information, so we must take time to parcel out and determine which are valid and worthwhile to pursue,” Dr. Venuturupalli says. “The ACR has always been an extremely trusted source for this new knowledge, presenting ideas on what’s going on in the field and what’s new, as well as upcoming research investigators to follow.”

To continue this strong educational focus, Dr. Venuturupalli’s first order of business will be to lead the development of a five-year education strategic plan for the College that will soon be presented to the ACR’s Board of Directors. With this plan approved, he will lead committee members in implementing it, beginning with what he hopes will be innovative new ways of sharing educational programming with the membership. One of his primary goals for the committee’s work: to modernize the delivery of ACR educational programming with more options for on-demand and livestreaming education.

“In this day and age, rheumatologists face numerous pressures, with the biggest pressure being one of time, as we maintain very busy practice schedules. Our ability to access quality education resources we can learn from in a rapid manner will be critical as we look to the future of rheumatology education,” Dr. Venuturupalli says.