Opinion

Subcategories:Patient Perspective Profiles Rheuminations Speak Out Rheum Video

Driving through the Storm: A Pediatric Rheumatologist Finds a Pandemic of Rheumatic Disease

Mark Gorelik, MD | May 18, 2020

A pediatric rheumatologist in the thick of treating children with COVID-19 confronts a new and evolving syndrome.

Rheum After 5: Dr. Victoria Seligman Helps Create Cambodian Healthcare

Carol Patton | May 15, 2020

In 2001, Victoria Seligman, MD, MPH, was vacationing in Vietnam. While traveling by train, she met a student from Yale University who was working on the school’s Cambodian Genocide Program, which documents the atrocities that occurred in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 under the Khmer Rouge regime. Approximately 1.7 million people—representing 21% of the population—were slaughtered….

Precision Medicine Today: Predicting Treatment Response in Patient Subgroups

Carina Stanton | May 15, 2020

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, COLO.—Choosing the right treatment at the right time is the brass ring all rheumatologists hope for. Precision medicine provides the ability to leverage clinical, biomarker and omics data to predict and personalize future treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). “New data and new methods to analyze the data are helping us better predict patterns…

COVID-19 Reality Check: Collected Stories from Rheumatologists & Rheumatology Professionals

The Rheumatologist | May 5, 2020

A collection of compelling interviews conducted with rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals focusing on their experiences thus far in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fear & Hope in the Era of the Modern Plague

Jose U. Scher, MD | April 29, 2020

This plague has affected each one of us, our families and friends, and abruptly, it has altered the way we relate to one another.

On Pandemics & Uncertainty: One Rheumatologist’s Story

Belinda Birnbaum, MD | April 24, 2020

As the mystery solvers, we are supposed to be comfortable with the unknown, but how does that translate when COVID-19 hits home? A rheumatologist contracts COVID-19.

In Memoriam: Luis R. Espinoza, MD: July 3, 1943–March 29, 2020

Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, MSEd, & Graciela S. Alarcón, MD, MPH, MACR | April 20, 2020

Surrounded by his immediate family, Luis R. Espinoza, MD, died on March 29 after a prolonged illness.

Patient Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity: Do You Need to Know?—Ethics Forum

Nayimisha Balmuri, MD, Jacob Spitznagle, MD, & Karen Onel, MD | April 15, 2020

A 17-year-old girl presents to the pediatric rheumatology clinic for follow-up of recently diagnosed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) characterized by class IV lupus nephritis, photosensitive rash and antiphospholid antibody positivity. She is currently being treated with prednisone, mycophenolate mofetil, and hydroxychloroquine. She is accompanied by her mother, who has been very involved in the patient’s…

Do You Know Your Legal Obligations to Disabled Patients?

Kurt Ullman | April 13, 2020

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities. This law, and amendments passed in 2008, resulted in rules and regulations opening access to private settings serving the public, including doctors’ offices and medical facilities. The ADA includes a three-pronged definition of disability. If any…

Activating Yourself in the Time of Coronavirus

Amish J. Dave, MD, MPH | March 30, 2020

A timely and personal appeal to all those who can to become or remain civically active in this critical time.