One day not too long ago, right smack in the middle of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was sitting at the roundtable of our conference room, also known as the solarium due to its sunny disposition. The spirit was high, and we all felt like we could bring some joy to the clinic that day. I…
Current ARHP President Afton L. Hassett, PsyD—a clinical psychologist and an associate research scientist in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan—attended her first ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in 1999. Dr. Hassett submitted an abstract to the meeting describing her dissertation research exploring the role of pain and depression in rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. It…
Often, young adults (18–23 years old) with rheumatic illness demonstrate poor adherence to treatment regimens, lack advocacy skills and have inadequate knowledge about diagnosis and treatment.1 Patients presenting at a transition clinic are typically comfortable with having their parents continue to be centrally involved with their care, but this is a time in life when…
May is National Arthritis Awareness Month. The ACR is committed to ensuring that arthritis and rheumatologic diseases are at the forefront of public awareness—and that better, safer treatments reach Americans in need. Fortunately, the federal government is also doing its part and has just released a major report on the national impact of arthritis. A…
Pathologists are legendary for blending their work product with the culinary arts. Through the years, their use of delectable foods as descriptors has created a clever way to indelibly link in the minds of clinicians the histopathologic observations of disease with an assortment of these tasty foods: There is the depiction of an apple green…
A 53-year-old female presented to the clinic for severe polyarticular joint pain and was found to have a seronegative inflammatory arthritis. Six months before, she had completed 10 months of treatment for stage IV metastatic melanoma with the immune checkpoint inhibitors, nivolumab and ipilimumab, achieving complete remission of her cancer. She said that throughout her…
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a monoclonal antibody directed against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4). It was the first drug to demonstrate a survival benefit in advanced melanoma and was approved by the FDA in 2011.1 By blocking the CTLA-4 receptor, ipilimumab enhances the immune response against tumors via cytotoxic T lymphocyte activation and proliferation.2 However, immunopotentiating…
Quality assurance and quality improvement (QA/QI) work makes sense to focus on. However, finding the time and resources for QI projects is not always easy. Until now, the business case for QI in rheumatology practice has not always been clear. However, this is changing with implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA)…
Doctors have had few options to treat the chronic rheumatoid arthritis-like symptoms associated with chikungunya virus infections beyond over-the-counter pain relievers. A recent study in Science Translational Medicine has spurred new optimism by finding that a combination therapy—the anti-rheumatic drug abatacept paired with a chikungunya-neutralizing monoclonal antibody—abolished acute symptoms in infected mice.1 The strategy must…
“What are you?” A faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine posed this question to a resident while attending rounds. Both were portraying a scene involving micro-aggression during Differences Matter, a three-day orientation for first-year medical students. On the program’s first day, students are introduced to unconscious bias and…