ACR on Air

Join us this week for an insightful and encouraging discussion with Drs. Mandal and Grant, the founders of The Rheumatology Access Expansion Initiative (RAE). RAE is a project designed to support the Navajo Nation, an underserved community with respect to rheumatic disease. Our guests explain how leveraging the established educational model, Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), was used to remotely train PCPs among the Navajo in the diagnosis and evidence-based treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). 

Kicking off a new series in conjunction with ARP, we’re spending time with professionals in the field of rheumatology that can, and do, much for our patients. Today, our focus centers on The Occupational Therapist. But how much do we know of our colleagues and their contributions toward our patients? What does an occupational therapist do, with our referrals in hand? We caught up with the founder of Arthritis Life and host of the Arthritis Life Podcast, Cheryl Crow, to answer that question and much more. Cheryl explains to us what happens at an OT visit, what sorts of patients should see an OT, how to manage pain from exercise as well as sharing with us her favorite life hacks and her own personal journey from patient to advocate. 

If there was ever any evidence for the depth of complexity within our own brains, look no further than the placebos and their effects. Both a help and hinderance to the medical community, rheumatology clinicians and researchers can agree that when testing new treatments, the placebo effect is as powerful as it is disruptive. But what is it exactly? How does it work and for which symptoms? Are there symptoms to which this effect is ineffective? How can you diminish the effect? What is the “Nocebo Effect” and what ethics are involved when dealing with placebos? To answer these questions, we’ve invited Professor Ted Kaptchuk, director of the Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts to be our guest today and tell us all about placebos, their effects and why they work. 

Join us this week for an in-depth discussion on IgG4-Related Disease with one of the premiere researchers in the field, Dr. John Stone. On this episode, Dr. Stone reviews the disease clinical presentation as well as its symptoms, how to make the diagnosis, treatment options, the role of IgG4 and what happens inside the body. Later, we discuss Dr. Stone’s research along with his personal journey in the field. 

As the year winds down and a new year is about to begin, looking back sometimes forces us to look ahead. Last month’s Convergence 2023 offered an opportunity to do just that: Look Ahead! We’ve invited the two speakers from the “The Clinical Year in Preview” session, Joan Bathon, MD and Jill Buyon, MD to discuss with us the latest abstracts that are expected to make the biggest waves in the coming year, as they relate to Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). We discuss a variety of abstracts that include the use of AI, steroid use, hydroxychloroquine dosing, preventing the development of RA in lupus, pregnancy in lupus dosing for methotrexate and much, much more. 

Dr. Hausmann interviews the first author of the 2022 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Prevention and Treatment of Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis Guideline Summary , Mary Beth Humphrey, MD, PhD this week. We discuss what glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP) is and why it's important for people with rheumatic diseases, the need for an updated guideline, how adult and pediatric patients should be screened, risk categorization and much, much more 

We are LIVE from the San Diego Convention Center with Dr. Snow, Dr. Bulbin, and Dr. Phillips, fresh from their presentation at Convergence 2023 regarding the recruitment and retention of our rheumatology workforce!  

Dr. Hausmann, MD interviews our Convergence attendees on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center! Here's your Daily Round Up for Sunday, November 13th 2023

Dr. Hausmann, MD interviews our Convergence attendees on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center! Here's your Daily Round Up for Sunday, November 13th 2023

Award-winning researcher, Dr. Doruk Erkan joins us today with newly published classification criteria for Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS). Dr. Erkan joins us today with those criteria and why he believes there is sufficient evidence to “Rethink APS”. 

Dr. Hausmann, MD interviews our Convergence attendees on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center! Here's your Daily Round Up for Sunday, November 12th 2023

We welcome Dr. Christina Downey back onto our show, this time LIVE from Convergence 2023! You may remember Dr. Downey from Episode 46: Empathy and Wellness , but today she comes to us in another capacity: in her continuing role as Chair of the ACR’s Government Affairs Committee! Listen in as she discusses what our collective voice in Washington has done for our patients in 2023, what are the current issues rheumatology faces “on The Hill” and lastly, what you can do to be heard! Learn more about the ACR's efforts in advocacy at: rheumatology.org/about-acr-advocacy and get involved at: rheumatology.org/get-involved 

The weekend of Convergence 2023 continues! Dr. Sindhu Johnson presented the new 2023 ACR Interstitial Lung Disease Guidelines (which can be found here ) and joins us today as its first author. Learn all about the recommendations, monitoring, how to approach treatment and when to change it as well as what gaps were noticed that inspired the new guidelines and the intent of the guidelines going forward. Enjoy, and we’ll see you tomorrow for another great episode at Convergence! 

Welcome to "ACR Convergence on Air" (ACoA)! Our daily coverage of ACR Convergence 2023! First up: what is thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) and what is its significance for rheumatology? How does TMA present in clinic and what are the challenges in diagnosing it? Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Director of the Clinical Coagulation and the Platelet Antibody Laboratories at Duke University, Dr. Thomas Ortel, joins us on the show to explain this and more from his presentation here at Convergence 2023 

ACR Convergence 2023 begins this Saturday! Dr. Hausmann gets on the mic for this short preview to unveil all of the exciting new things you'll hear, all week long, on our podcast! Be sure to wake up with Jon this Saturday morning, and every morning, during this year's Convergence!

Your patients are seeing you regularly, and things are going well. What else could they possibly need? In this week’s episode, we discussed the support a patient organization can contribute between visits to your office and the type of support they provide patients, such as navigating the pitfalls of insurance coverage, managing the complexities of school, work, family, relationships with a chronic rheumatic disease, group support and much, much more. Our guest is Monique Gore-Massy, a distinguished and awarded global lupus advocate, diversity equity & inclusion champion, patient experience researcher, patient opinion leader consultant, motivational speaker, writer, strategist and, a patient with lupus. Her inspiring story and all the ways you can leverage these organizations for your patients are coming up in this next episode of “ACR on Air”. 

ACR Convergence 2023 is very nearly here, and with it only being a few weeks away, it’s also time for our annual preview episode! What’s new this year? What returning favorites are coming back? What can we expect from the San Diego Convention Center? Jon talks to our AMPC Chair, Dr. Sharon Kolasinski once more to tease this year’s meeting, which in many ways builds on your feedback from last year as well. While listening, why not explore our Full Schedule or even Register Today! Enjoy the show and we’ll see you in November! 

Most may find the topic of advocacy to be uninteresting or too big to tackle with such busy schedules. However, our guests this week, Dr. Belinda Birnbaum, MD and Lennie Shewmaker McDaniel, JD, truly breathe life into this matter while explaining the role the American College of Rheumatology has on Capitol Hill and how you (yes YOU) can play an important and rewarding role. We discuss what RheumPAC is, how the ACR identifies key issues affecting our patients, highlight past successes of the ACR’s advocacy group, plus cover important issues currently being presented to Congress such as “Transparency within Pharmacy Benefit Managers” and “Challenges of Step Therapy”. 

Congratulations, you’ve completed your rheumatology fellowship! Armed with the knowledge, skills and passion for treating complex rheumatic disease you’re set to go off into the world and help those who need your set of skills most. So... How do you do that? Our next guest, Dr. Sunil Abraham joins us to unpack and demystify this next challenge in your career – from his experience. We discuss the various ways of practicing rheumatology, from academic to clinical, as well as the organizational models of hospital-based groups, community practices, and private practices and the financial risks and benefits of partnership!  

No matter what stage of your career you’re in, the Rheumatology Research Foundation can help and support your research endeavors. This week, we discuss many of the grants The Foundation offers, not just to medical students and early career investigators, but also to medical educators, community rheumatologists and fellowship programs. We’ve invited Dr. Ted Mikuls, MD, MSPH, the chair of the Scientific Advisory Council on the Board of Directors for the Rheumatology Research Foundation and Eryn Marchiolo, the Vice President of Mission at the Rheumatology Research Foundation to discuss what The Foundation is, how it goes about executing its mission for rheumatology research, what scientific topics it’s most interested in, plus how to apply for grants, their grant selection process and how you can get involved.