Mistakes are a part of life. In fact, they are a large part of my life. Whether uncovering inborn errors of immunity, teaching about diagnostic errors, identifying systemic lapses in high-quality care or correcting spelling errors in manuscripts, my entire being is centered on studying and examining mistakes. To a certain degree, I feel like…
Spam, spam, advertisement, spam … wait wait, what’s this? A small envelope, addressed from Maine. I wonder what this is about? Usually, when I get an envelope this size, it’s a letter from someone trying to sell me something or complain about something I have no control over. So imagine my surprise when I found…
I have been reading Yuval Harari’s thought-provoking and engaging book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, about our species’ struggles and the path that led to our emergence as the predominant species. I was captivated by the drawing of the hand of one of our ancestors and mused about what that forebear was thinking as…
A plain X-ray film appeared on the computer screen—a humerus, a radius and an ulna were all visible. My pupils zoomed around the screen, and on initial inspection, everything looked fine. However, this X-ray was unlike any film I had ever reviewed. You see, it was for my then 4-year-old puppy, Lexi. My sweet little…
Admittedly, there’s not much to see on a country road 100 miles southwest of Iowa City, Iowa. It’s especially true in winter, when a blanket of white snow obscures any and all features of the seemingly endless fields of corn and soy. In the radiance of fresh snow on a bright winter day, even the…
Happy New Year, readers of The Rheumatologist! As the incoming editor, I want to welcome you back in this new year and hope that you’ll stick around, month after month, as we journey together through 2023. As the year progresses, you may notice some departures from what we have previously done, but I also wish…
Are you happy? This may be a question born of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, I used to quote William Osler, MD, who simultaneously founded the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and created the modern system of medical education. He opined: The practice of medicine will be very much as you make it—to one,…
PHILADELPHIA—“At age 12, I was diagnosed with psoriasis (PsO), followed by a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) at age 30,” said Ashley Krivohlavek of Oklahoma City in a poster presentation at ACR Convergence 2022. “I’m now 38.” Ms. Krivohlavek’s Story In 2020, I had been on an infused biologic for 18 months, but my…
PHILADELPHIA—“My symptoms started in the final year of medical school, and at that stage I believed I was strong enough to fight my condition,” said Shung Ming Chiu, MD, in a poster presentation at ACR Convergence 2022. “Later, I realized that it’s not [about] fighting [but] rather accepting it and adapting to the new normal….
The study of rheumatology (and medicine) in art, history, literature and music is engaging and informative.1-12 In this article, we present some instances when rheumatic and autoimmune diseases in certain individuals may have affected the course of history in Western civilization. Physicians are usually concerned, appropriately, with the effects of illness on the lives of…