Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-West follows-up East meeting with all-new program
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Thanks to COVID-19, the 2020 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology-West will come right on the heels of the CCR-East meeting.
Rather than holding East in the spring and West in the fall, the West meeting will be held Oct. 8-11, just a month after the East session. But conference organizers assured potential attendees that the two meetings will have totally different programs, with no duplication.
Rather than holding East in the spring and West in the fall, the West meeting will be held Oct. 8-11, just a month after the East session. Source: Adobe Stock
CCR symposium director David A. McLain, MD, highlighted a few sessions in the CCR-West program that are sure to generate significant discussion. “Maarten Limper, MD, PhD, from the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, is set to review new findings in patients with long-standing antiphospholipid syndrome,” he told Healio Rheumatology in an interview. “Also, Georg Schett, MD, from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Germany, gave one of the best talks about gout I ever heard at CCR-East last year. He is presenting again, and it should be interesting.”
John H. Stone, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital, will presenting on both IgG4 and giant cell arteritis, while Philip J. Mease, MD, of the Swedish Rheumatology Research Group, in Seattle, is slated to discuss both psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis.
“Anne Marie Malfait, MD, from Belgium, who is chair of arthritis at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, will be discussing pain and osteoarthritis,” McLain, also of McLain Medical Associates, PC, and executive director of the Alabama Society for the Rheumatic Diseases, said in the interview. “Mike McClung, MD, of the International Osteoporosis Center, is going to give an update on osteoporosis.”
Both Judith James, MD, PhD, of Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and Michelle Petri, MD, of Johns Hopkins, are scheduled to speak on the topic of systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, will discuss rheumatoid arthritis.
McLain also highlighted the five-credit immunology course as a key draw for those considering attending CCR-West.
“With the increasing number of biologics available that are targeted treatments for autoimmune diseases, it is increasingly important to understand the mechanisms of action and differences between these drugs,” the CCR-West website noted. “Unlike other immunology courses that try to teach more advanced immunology, this course presents the basic immunology that is pertinent for rheumatology as it relates to the specific disease states.”
For attendees hoping to gain further insight on COVID-19 in the context of rheumatology, Peter Nigrovic, MD, will go over macrophage activation syndrome. “Some of that, of course, will be related to COVID,” McLain said.
If there is another byproduct of the virtual meetings that have become standard in the wake of the pandemic, it is the potential for technological hiccups. To that point, McLain noted that the congress is working with the same company that handled the United Rheumatology meeting, which was among the largest rheumatology meetings of the year.
“Also, we are hosting it at The Forge in downtown Birmingham,” he said, and added that the location has more than adequate internet capability. “Also, we are right next to Alabama Power, so power should not be an issue.”
CCR-West will also include many of the features attendees of virtual meetings have come to expect, such as opportunities for online Q&A and a point system for visiting the exhibit hall. Conference attendees can enter drawings and be awarded gift cards as they browse through the digital complex. “We have a platform set up for the virtual exhibit hall that we have worked out with the sponsors,” McLain said.
Two other attractive features of the meeting include the schedule and the cost. “We wanted people to be able to be in the clinic Thursday and Friday and then follow the program on the weekend,” he said. “For those unable to attend live, the videos will be available for at least 6 months for Category 1 CME and MOC.”
As for the cost, the organizers decided to offer a discount for people who participate in both the East and West meetings. “[CCR-West] will be just $125 extra for physicians,” McLain said.
CCR-West drew approximately 500 attendees last year. McLain hopes that there will be at least as many visiting online in 2020.
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David McLain, MD, can be reached at 2229 Cahaba Valley Dr, Birmingham, AL 35242; email: david.mclain@gmail.com; pmclain@ccrheumatology.com.
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