During a recent divisional grand rounds presentation, I asked a room full of my colleagues how many of them had been asked about turmeric by a patient within the past year, month, week or day. Most hands remained up by the end of the exercise. During a recent trip to New York City, I was…
The past 20 years have seen dramatic changes in the practice of rheumatology, ranging from bench to bedside therapeutic advances to dramatic improvements in diagnostic imaging. The results have been gratifying for our patients and attractive to internal medicine trainees making subspecialty career decisions. We are pleased to provide this article for The Rheumatologist’s wide-ranging…
Black powder was initially developed in 9th century China, by Taoists searching for the philosopher’s stone, which fans of Harry Potter will remember is the talisman that grants eternal life. The Chinese name for black powder literally translates as fire medicine. The chemical composition of black powder was first recorded in China during the 11th…
Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory rheumatic condition characterized by pain and morning stiffness at the neck, shoulders and hip girdle. It can be associated with giant cell arteritis (GCA); in fact, the two disorders may represent a continuum of the same disease process. This case describes a patient who initially refused treatment for PMR…
Years ago, 16-year-old Bryce Binstadt, now a pediatric rheumatologist at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, was waterskiing with friends on Potato Lake in Minnesota, where his family frequently vacationed. Dr. Binstadt had been an avid water-skier since he was 8 years old and had become very skilled at the sport—even skiing backward. This…
Scleroderma Foundation Names Doctor of the Year The Scleroderma Foundation has named Lesley Ann Saketkoo, MD, MPH, doctor of the year for her leadership and commitment to the scleroderma community. Dr. Saketkoo is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans. Dr. Saketkoo is an internationally recognized researcher, educator…
BALTIMORE—Understanding issues regarding pregnancy in women with rheumatic disease is important to patients and physicians alike, said Bonnie Bermas, MD, the Dr. Morris Ziff Distinguished Professor in Rheumatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, in her recent lecture at the Maryland Society for the Rheumatic Diseases.The physiologic changes in normal pregnancy, which include increased circulating…
Researchers working to decode the epigenetic landscape for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were surprised to discover a connection to Huntington’s disease, a finding that could pave the way to discoveries of new therapeutic targets. By developing new methods to integrate data from epigenetic technologies, scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), set out to…
In summer 2017, I was a few months post-partum when I received an email announcing applications for the ACR’s Advocacy 101 program. It would take only a few days, but I asked my division director if it would be worth the time commitment. He questioned the career benefits of advocacy, but encouraged me to apply…
A patient Zachary Wallace, MD, MSc, met during his third year of medical school at Georgetown University helped lead him to his passion for rheumatology. He was completing a clinical rotation in medicine, and the experience made rheumatologic disease tangible for him. “She had lupus, and I became interested in her case,” he says. Later,…