The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Triple-Threat Rheumatologist H. Ralph Schumacher, Jr., MD, Has a Zest for Research

Triple-Threat Rheumatologist H. Ralph Schumacher, Jr., MD, Has a Zest for Research

January 1, 2010 • By Gretchen Henkel

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

That was the quality that Lan Chen, MD, PhD, a rheumatologist at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, was most impressed by when she became a fellow in 2000. “Knowing that he is such a well-known researcher, I was amazed at how involved he is, research-wise,” she says. “He would never say no to even small projects. He really has that zest in doing research!”

You Might Also Like
  • In Memoriam: Dr. H. Ralph Schumacher Jr.
  • Quadruple-threat Rheumatologist
  • Rheumatologist John P. Atkinson, MD, Continues Research into Rare Diseases
Explore This Issue
January 2010
Also By This Author
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration at Wash U Advances Understanding of Immunology, Rheumatology

He was also nurturing of his fellows. Dr. Schumacher and his wife, Liz, made Dr. Lally and his wife, newcomers to Philadelphia in 1980, feel very welcome, recalls Dr. Lally. “My wife still has fond memories of our time in Philadelphia,” he says. Dr. Schlesinger, too, warmly recalls cookouts held in the Schumacher’s award-winning terraced garden. (Dr. Schumacher and his wife transformed an eroded hillside into what Dr. Schumacher now calls “a fairyland” with garden sculptures from their travels, a fountain, fish pond, and exotic and native plants with all-season interest.)

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

A Zest for Life, Research, and Collaboration

Former fellows have often remained collaborators with Dr. Schumacher. When he left Penn for the University of Arizona in 1973, Dr. Gall continued to collaborate with Dr. Schumacher. They shared an interest in medical photography and later coauthored an atlas on rheumatoid arthritis, among other projects.

Dr. Schumacher managed to fit in multiple collaborations around his teaching and travel schedule—which was extensive, because he is an honorary member of countless international rheumatism societies.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Dr. Schumacher played basketball and tennis in college and continued for most of his life, participating in an over-30 basketball league and playing with the Penn house staff into his 60s. One picture on his Web site (www.med.upenn.edu/synovium) shows him shooting hoops with his Taiwanese colleagues during his 1979 sabbatical, during which he set up the first rheumatology division in Taiwan. Since 2005, he has spearheaded OMERACT’s Special Interest Groups and their resulting Workshop on Outcome Measures for Acute and Chronic Gout.8

Dr. Schumacher reflects that what initially drew him to research in rheumatology—his initial quest to explore the synovium and find the causes for rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases—remains as an evolving puzzle. A surprise discovery was that even normal joints often have DNA and RNA from Chlamydia (as well as various other infectious agents) lodged in the joint, without causing disease.9 “We’re all exposed to various external insults that can apparently bombard our joints, and I’ve been trying to stimulate people to consider that ‘disease’ probably results from a complicated interaction between the host’s genetically determined variety of responses to various environmental insults, rather than a specific insult itself.”10

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Practice Management, Professional Topics, Profiles, Rheumatoid Arthritis Tagged With: Career, Research, Rheumatiod arthritis, rheumatology, TrainingIssue: January 2010

You Might Also Like:
  • In Memoriam: Dr. H. Ralph Schumacher Jr.
  • Quadruple-threat Rheumatologist
  • Rheumatologist John P. Atkinson, MD, Continues Research into Rare Diseases
  • Rheumatologist Nathan Wei, MD, Focuses on Alternatives to Surgery for Athletes

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2022 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.