As ACR Open Rheumatology (ACROR) enters its fifth year, its founding editors in chief are looking back on the journal’s accomplishments and forward to ushering in a new era, beginning with a search for their successors. Patricia Katz, PhD, professor of medicine and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Edward…
Because rheumatology is a complex cognitive specialty, rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals often see patients repeatedly for acute and chronic problems. Although that may lead to close relationships with patients, it may also make the specialty more prone to burnout, says Peter Y. Hahn, MD, MBA, CEO of University of Michigan Health-West, Wyoming, Mich. “It can…
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 vividly recollect asking my physics professor for a letter of recommendation. I sat in the front row of his lectures and visited his office hours most weeks in the semester. He turned me down because he was “too busy.” I was devastated—and panicked about asking my next choice for letter writer. On the plus…
Avoiding real and apparent conflicts of interest is a fundamental principle of guideline development, but what should we do when every thought leader is conflicted? An example of this conundrum in rheumatology has been the ACR’s ongoing effort to establish guidelines for the management of lupus nephritis, which has been stymied by the fact that…
Women are substantially under-represented among the recipients of major awards in rheumatology, according to a 2022 study by Halling et al., which looked at the gender award gap in North America and Europe over the past two decades.1 This trend is also seen in other fields, with only one woman winning the Fields Medal in…
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…
Through the development of position statements that lay out the ACR’s official stance on issues related to the management of rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions, the Committee on Rheumatologic Care helps outline policies that affect the practice of rheumatology and the wellbeing and care of patients.
Tien-I Karleen Su, MD, FACR, who co-founded a practice in California, has been named the first chair of the CPC. Her first task will be to help fill out the council with rheumatology professionals from small or independent practices.
Now in the second year of his 2021–2023 term as the Rheumatology Research Foundation president, V. Michael Holers, MD, a professor of medicine and immunology and the Smyth Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Colorado, Denver, is looking forward to fortifying and expanding the Foundation’s missions in the framework of its new strategic plan.