Both presenters for the ACR: Year in Review agreed that 2019 was a year where the field of rheumatology exploded, both in clinical updates and basic science research, as more people enter the field and technology helps harness “big data.”

The session focused on the clinical manifestations of irAEs associated with cancer immunotherapies, including the molecular pathogenesis, tools that aid early diagnosis and treatment, and shared mechanisms and relationships with primary autoimmune diseases.

The risks and benefits of vaccinations for common infectious diseases as well as strategies to risk-stratify patients for PJP and recommend appropriate therapy were reviewed.

“Historically, we’ve thought about how we better treat (lupus), how we make patients feel better … But if we want to eliminate lupus, we need to understand early events and how we can stop things before it’s too late,” said Judith James, MD, PhD.

Marian T. Hannan, DSc, MPH, encouraged the audience to cultivate their leadership skills and take care of themselves and their careers so that they can best take care of others.

“I would suggest that our members demonstrate their enthusiasm for the field and reach out to young students and trainees — the younger they are when we reach out to them, the better. Medical school would be a great time. There’s nothing more important than…

NAFLD is approaching epidemic proportions in the United States, and some of the most commonly used rheumatologic agents can cause or contribute to the worsening of liver disease.

David L. Hu, PhD, reminisced about several of his “silly” research projects, illustrating that there are no bad questions — even seemingly silly or unimportant research can be useful.

The rapidly changing world of medical apps has made for some exciting breakthroughs, but generally, the rheumatology community hasn’t seen as many of these advances because it has been slower to adopt these technologies.

Approaches and treatments for the metabolic bone disorders rheumatologists are most likely to see, hypophosphatasia, osteomalacia, and primary hyperthyroidism, are changing, and the outlook on all three is improving.