ACoA: Recruiting, Retaining and Sustaining the Rheumatology Workforce

This week, Dr. Hausmann takes on Ultrasound in Rheumatology, exploring its use in the field and diagnosing diseases such as Inflammatory Arthritis, Crystaline Arthropathy and Vasculitis. Dr. Minna Kohler, Founder and Director of the Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, joins us as our guest. Dr. Kohler discusses how Ultrasound can help therapeutically, what it's like working in an MSK Ultrasound clinic, plus how one can become trained in the use of Ultrasound, what the patient experience is like, the controversies surrounding the use of Ultrasound in rheumatology and what the future holds for it in our field. 

Join us this week as Jon meets with a truly influential woman in the medical field, Dr. Elizabeth Ang, being one of the first pediatric rheumatologists in the Southeast Asian region to receive pediatric rheumatology training and is the Co-Convenor of the Paediatric Rheumatology Special Interest Group of APLAR (Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology). Beyond this, and so that children with rheumatic disease in the region have the opportunity to be diagnosed and treated, Dr. Ang trains local doctors and shares her knowledge and experience with them in Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. In this episode she and Dr. Hausmann discuss Singapore’s healthcare system, access to biologics, cultural barriers to treatment and much, much more. 

Bone health may not be first on the mind when discussing rheumatology, however, Dr. Marcy Bolster believes it plays a vital role in caring for ‘the whole patient’. As such, Dr. Bolster’s innovative contributions to the field of Osteoporosis cannot be overstated. She joins us today to discuss the role of the rheumatologist in helping to prevent or treat Osteoporosis, how often it’s under-recognized, plus the services she created to help identify, diagnose and treat the condition among patients.  

When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, treatments that force the immune system into overdrive are given in hopes that it will recognize the cancer and destroy it. Unfortunately, this can mean that various Immune Related Adverse Events (IRAEs) can occur. In rheumatology, our treatments are meant to tame an overactive immune system, creating a unique dilemma. Joining us today is Dr. Laura Cappelli, MD, MHS. Dr. Cappelli explains what these IRAEs really are, how they commonly occur, what risk factors exist in their development, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to treatment and much, much more. 

April is just around the corner, and so is 2024’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium (SOTA)! This week, we welcome Dr. Sobia Hassan, Chair of the SOTA Planning Committee and Dr. Ibtissam Gad, Chair of the Fellows in Training subcommittee. We discuss the topics and speakers chosen for SOTA and how they were selected, some highlights including discussions on CAR T Cells, CPPD, and Check Point Inhibitors, what’s in store for our Fellows in Training and how you, our listeners, can get involved! If you’ve not yet registered, be sure to visit the ACR’s registration page for all the details you’ll need to plan your trip here: State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium

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.