Emmy Award-winning journalist, educator, and poet Seema Yasmin, MD, will examine how the COVID-19 pandemic could change the practice of rheumatology and what lessons must be learned from such a public health crisis.

This year’s expanded Patient Perspectives program will feature digital posters and a special oral presentation session. The goal of the program is to create a platform for patients to share their personal experiences, said Puja Khanna, MD, MPH, FACR.

Several overlapping themes have emerged in basic and clinical research, prompting meeting planners to combine two special sessions into a two-day event focused on COVID-19, said Kristine Kuhn, MD, PhD, Chair of the ACR Committee on Research.

Annual Meeting Planning Committee member Aimee Chen-Wiener, APRN, MSN, will moderate this year’s expanded boot camp on Friday, Nov. 5. The three-hour session will feature expert presentations from three radiologists.

Annual Meeting Planning Committee Chair Sharon L. Kolasinski, MD, FACR, discusses lessons learned from last year’s virtual meeting and what participants can expect from ACR Convergence 2021.

The Clinical Practice program features a robust schedule of sessions covering the latest clinical trial results, newest therapies, and emerging technological advances in rheumatology, said Clinical Abstract Selection Co-chair Tracy Frech, MD, MS.

Basic Science Chair Jennifer H. Anolik, MD, PhD, discusses this year’s Basic Science program, which examines the most important recent developments in basic science that will change clinical practice in the future.

“I’m very proud and excited about the broad range of issues and topics we’ve incorporated into this year’s annual meeting program,” said ARP Co-chair Jill R. Blitz, PT, DPT, ATP.

The pediatric sessions at this year’s meeting will challenge attendees to think like a researcher and consider topics that haven’t been in the program in recent years, according to Eyal Muscal, MD, MS.