OARSI president spotlights efforts toward ‘year-round’ OA community engagement
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The Osteoarthritis Research Society International continues to thrive despite setbacks presented by the pandemic, according to the organization’s president, Ali Mobasheri, DPhil (Oxon), who opened the 2021 OARSI World Congress.
“It is going to be intense, but hopefully it is going to be great fun and very educational,” Mobasheri, professor of musculoskeletal physiology at the University of Surrey, in England, said of the first ever virtual edition of the annual meeting.
Program committee directors Danny Chan, MD, and Martin van der Esch, PhD, deserve significant credit for pulling the meeting together in the face of COVID-19, according to Mobasheri.
While the format of the meeting is different, the aim of OARSI has not changed. “OARSI is the premiere organization for scientists and health care professionals focused on the prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis through the promotion and presentation of research, education and the worldwide dissemination of new knowledge,” Mobasheri said. “This has been our core message for the last two decades.”
The message has been amplified, thanks to the launch of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open, a new journal to complement the long-standing Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.
Mobasheri highlighted the OARSI treatment guidelines for OA published in 2019 as a key component of those publications that has been useful to rheumatologists worldwide. The organization is working to make the document available on a mobile app, which may be the future of how clinicians can access such recommendations. “We are grateful to colleagues who have consistently supported these efforts,” he said.
Another important aspect of recent OARSI activity has been to make efforts to minimize the impact of the pandemic on individual members. Part of that strategy was to offer financial incentives to offset lost costs incurred due to the canceled 2020 World Congress.
In addition, OARSI members now have more opportunities to connect and interact than ever, despite being at home on lockdown. A monthly message from the OARSI president and a weekly newsletter are two key strategies to that end, along with the “Hey OA!” podcast, a LinkedIn group and OARSI Live, an interactive clinical discussion hosted by past OARSI president, Jeffrey Katz, MD.
“This is part of our effort to make the organization an all-year-round engaged society rather than a once-a-year face-to-face meeting,” Mobasheri said.
In closing, Mobasheri acknowledged OARSI award winners, including Alan Grodzinsky, MD, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award; Anne-Marie Malfait, MD, who earned the Basic Science Research Award; Philip Conaghan, MD, PhD, winner of the Clinical Research Award; and Rising Star Award winners Silvia Monteagudo, PharmD, PhD, Ida K. Haugen, MD, PhD, and Jamie Collins, PhD. “We look forward to seeing our young investigators later in the week,” Mobasheri said.
“We hope to see you face-to-face next year” he added.
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