Sharon A. Chung, MD, MAS, director of the vasculitis clinic at the University of California, San Francisco, served as the principal investigator of the overall vasculitis guideline effort and talks about the process here.


Michael Putman, MD |
Sharon A. Chung, MD, MAS, director of the vasculitis clinic at the University of California, San Francisco, served as the principal investigator of the overall vasculitis guideline effort and talks about the process here.

One of the oldest treatment options in rheumatology, colchicine, may be an effective and inexpensive treatment to prevent complications in non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19, particularly in men, according to the results of large global study.

Ibrahem Salloum, MD, & Deepan S. Dalal, MD, MPH |
Discovered more than 3,000 years ago, colchicine is one of the oldest drugs still in use today. Like most old remedies, colchicine is a chemical substance found in many plants, most notably in colchicum autumnale, known as wild saffron or autumn crocus. It was mentioned in the oldest Egyptian medical text, Ebers Papyrus (circa 1550…

Over the past 18 months, the ACR’s Quality of Care (QOC) Committee has helped produce an impressive number of resources that will help rheumatologists deliver the best possible care. Working through specific projects supervised under its Criteria, Guideline, Guidance, and Quality Measure subcommittees, the QOC Committee has developed new sets of disease criteria, clinical guidelines,…

Frank A. Wollheim, MD, PhD, FRCP, MACR |
On Feb. 1, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Daniel L. Kastner, MD, PhD, scientific director of the Division of Intramural Research of the National Human Genome Research Institute, where he is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Distinguished Investigator, was awarded the 2021 Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis “for having established the concept…
Musculoskeletal disorders pose a large burden globally, but that burden is often underappreciated. Safiri et al. set out to provide a global overview of this burden, reporting the levels and trends of prevalence, deaths and disability-adjusted life years due to musculoskeletal disorders according to age, sex and sociodemographic factors.

Nan Shen, MD, PhD, & Peter E. Lipsky, MD |
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of a giant of international rheumatology, Professor Shunle Chen. He was a friend, colleague, collaborator, visionary leader and inspiration to many rheumatologists in China and the world. Moreover, despite his international stature, he was a warm friend and nurturing mentor to all those who had…

Donah Zack Crawford, MA, & Jeff Newcomb, BA |
COVID-19 is responsible for many things, including placing public attention on clinical trials and the worldwide race to approve a vaccine. The words rushed to market usually strike fear in the minds and hearts of clinical research coordinators. Many have seen investigational products with aggressive timelines withdrawn mid-study or during late-stage trials. This year, we…

Jason Melehani, MD, PhD |
On Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Notice through the Federal Register announcing the withdrawal of guidance documents that established the Unapproved Drugs Initiative. This Notice brings to an end a 14-year-old program that has been blamed for significantly contributing to the rising cost of some…

NIH investigators describe key features and genetic causes of Mendelian interferonopathies, & treatment approaches that may indicate the efficacy of IFN inhibition.