Rheumatology Winter Clinical Symposium encourages attendees to 'challenge' speakers, drive discussion
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The 2020 Rheumatology Winter Clinical Symposium will feature presentations intended to foster active discussion between those on the dais and those in attendance. The meeting, which is in its 13th year, will take place February 12 to 15, at the Wailea Beach Marriott in Maui, Hawaii.
“In my opinion, this may be the best rheumatology meeting there is, for a few reasons,” Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and program chairman for the RWCS meeting, told Healio Rheumatology. “One reason is that it is as up to date as can possibly be in terms of the data that are presented. But it is not just a dump of data, with a single talking head that gives their opinion on one small topic in rheumatology. Active participation from the audience is built into the structure of the meeting.”
Organizers of the event have tried to make certain that there is something for every rheumatologist, from sessions on mainstays of the specialty like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, the psoriatic diseases and the spondyloarthropathies, to information about rarer conditions like vasculitis, to conversations about telemedicine, imaging and even use of social media.
“Of course, we are going to cover the big topics, but we are also hoping to cover areas that you do not often see at meetings,” Kavanaugh said. “Some of these topics, such as telemedicine or imaging, are no less relevant to rheumatologists in their everyday practice than some of the bigger clinical areas.”
The meeting’s program director also had an inventive idea for poster presentations, according to Kavanaugh. “The poster sessions are heavily focused on fellows,” he said. “There will be 11 posters presented at breaks in the sessions, and the fellows will have the opportunity to field questions from attendees.”
One key talk during the conference will feature a 2019 year in review for rheumatology, while other presentations will encourage clinicians to “think outside the box” or to take “how-to” tips from key opinion leaders in the field. Looking deeper into the program, attendees may also participate in a point/counterpoint debate or discuss whether evidence or experience should guide clinical decision-making.
“We had the idea to dig deep into evidence-based medicine, to look hard at all available data on any given topic and figure out what it is trying to tell us,” Kavanaugh said.
There will be case presentations and panel discussions, along with workshops and standard abstract presentations.
“Many of the sessions will have two or more speakers,” Kavanaugh said. “But it is set up as a tradition where people in the audience can come to the mic to challenge the speakers or panelists, and an active discussion, driven by data, ensues. We get to hear different opinions, from people who work in the big academic medical centers to single-practice rheumatologists in the community.”
In addition to comments from Janet Pope, MD, who will receive the RWCS 2020 Kahuna award for lifetime excellence in rheumatology education, other presenters include Roy Fleischmann, MD; Mark C. Genovese, MD; Jack Cush MD; Alvin Wells, MD, PhD; Eric Ruderman MD; Orrin Troum MD; William Bugbee MD; George Martin MD; Uma Mahadevan, MD; Anna Postolova, MD, MPH; and Anne Stevens, MD.
Attendance is expected to be more than 250 doctors, in addition to a smattering of industry representatives. For Kavanaugh, the mid-size nature of the meeting is one of its more attractive qualities. “There is no doubt that ACR is a great meeting, but it is so big that your best friend could be there, and you never see each other,” he said. “At many small local meetings, you might get a great lecture, but it is one person giving the talk, and then they are gone, with no opportunity for interaction. We offer the chance to interact.”
At the end of the day, Kavanaugh is looking for one primary reaction from meeting attendees: “Year after year, the highest compliment I get about this meeting is when someone comes up and says, ‘Hey, this is a really good meeting,’ as though they were expecting hula dancing or something,” he said.
While attendees may, in fact, see hula dancing at some point during their stay in Hawaii, they are also likely to walk away from RWCS sessions with a broad cross-section of information that is pertinent to their rheumatology practice. “You can have a lousy meeting once, but no one will come again,” Kavanaugh said. “You have to give people a reason to spend their hard-earned time and money to come out, and then you want people to walk away thinking, ‘That was a really excellent meeting.’ That is what we are hoping to accomplish each year.” – by Rob Volansky
For more information:
Meeting website: https://r-w-c-s.com/2020/
Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, can be reached at 9350 Campus Point Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92037; email: akavanaugh@health.ucsd.edu.
Disclosure: Kavanaugh reports professional relationships with AbbVie, Amgen, BMS, Gilead, Janssen, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer and UCB.