ACR on Air Podcast
ACR on Air seeks to have informative conversations rheumatology professionals want to hear – ranging in topic from trends in clinical practice, to issues affecting rheumatology professionals, and the changing landscape of the rheumatology field. Tune in bi-weekly for new interviews and commentary that are sure to empower listeners to excel in their specialty.
Podcast Host
Our host, Jonathan Hausmann, MD, is a pediatric and adult rheumatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research interests include autoinflammatory diseases, health technology, and medical education. Connect with Dr. Hausmann on Twitter (@hausmannMD).
Episodes
New episodes will be available twice a month on Tuesdays.
Episode 135 – ACR Convergence 2026 Preview
Episode 134 – How I Evaluate Raynaud's Disease
Episode 133 – How I Evaluate ILD
Episode 132 – JIA, A Family’s Perspective
Episode 131 – Can We Prevent Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Browse previous episodes in the ACR on Air archive.
Episode Show Notes
Join us as we explore what’s new and exciting at ACR Convergence, the premier gathering for rheumatology science and innovation. Gregory C. Gardner, MD, MACP, Chair of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, shares a preview of this year’s meeting, including emerging treatments like cellular therapy, hands-on workshops, and the science that could change clinical practice. We discuss the sessions you won’t want to miss and offer tips for making the most of your time at the meeting, both inside and outside the conference room.
Gregory C. Gardner, MD, MACP – Gregory C. Gardner, MD, MACP, is a rheumatologist and emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Washington, where he previously served as clinical director of rheumatology and fellowship program director. He held the prestigious Bruce C. Gilliland-Lucille T. Henderson Endowed Professorship in Medicine and is affiliated with UW Medicine-Harborview Medical Center and UW Medicine-University of Washington Medical Center. Dr. Gardner earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and has over 20 years of experience treating conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
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When is Raynaud’s phenomenon truly a disease? Robert Spiera, MD, joins us to discuss the key clinical clues, the value of patient photos and nail fold capillary findings, and how to approach a positive ANA without a defined connective tissue disease. We review treatment options from warming strategies and medication review to calcium channel blockers, PDE-5 inhibitors, prostaglandins, and digital sympathectomy and highlight the finding that demands urgent attention: a painful, persistently blanched digit. Most importantly, we discuss the balance between treating serious vascular disease and avoiding unnecessary medicalization of a common phenomenon.
Robert Spiera, MD – Robert Spiera, MD, is the Director of the Scleroderma, Vasculitis, and Myositis Center at Hospital for Special Surgery, and a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He has been the principal investigator in several clinical trials and observational studies focusing on scleroderma and vasculitis. Dr. Spiera specializes in the treatment of various rheumatologic conditions including scleroderma, vasculitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Sjögren’s syndrome. He has authored over 200 publications relating to scleroderma, vasculitis, and other rheumatic diseases.
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Robert Hallowell, MD, is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he is the Director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program and the Pulmonary Ambulatory Clinic. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed both his Internal Medicine Residency and Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His research focuses on understanding how autoantibodies and rheumatologic diseases shape clinical phenotypes and outcomes in interstitial lung disease, with the goal of better defining disease natural history and optimizing treatment strategies.
Robert Hallowell, MD – Robert Hallowell, MD, is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he is the Director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program and the Pulmonary Ambulatory Clinic. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed both his Internal Medicine Residency and Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His research focuses on understanding how autoantibodies and rheumatologic diseases shape clinical phenotypes and outcomes in interstitial lung disease, with the goal of better defining disease natural history and optimizing treatment strategies.
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September is Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month (RDAM), and today we’re sharing the story of Deborah Talbot, an occupational therapist (OT) from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and her daughter, Molly, who was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) at the age of 12 years old. When an ankle injury turned out to be far more, Molly endured months of pain, swelling, repeated evaluations and the uncertainty of not understanding why she wasn’t getting better. This is the story of how a family came together to fight through pain, discover a disease, find remission that would remain for years and start advocacy for those without the resources they were blessed with, emerging triumphant in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Deborah Talbot, OT – Deborah Talbot, OT, has been an occupational therapist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for 26 years. She has a long-standing career with specialty areas of pediatric joint and orthopedic conditions, movement disorders, and adapted seating and wheelchairs. Her career began at Shriner’s Hospital for Children in the early nineties, where she had a very concentrated caseload of providing rehabilitation services for children with JIA. She is also the mother of 16-year-old Molly Talbot, who was diagnosed with JIA in 2022.
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Rheumatoid arthritis may begin years before the first swollen joint appears, with autoantibodies circulating long before a clinical diagnosis is made. In this episode, we explore what happens during this critical preclinical phase and whether RA can be prevented before it starts. Kevin D. Deane, MD, PhD, director of the Autoimmune Disease Prevention Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz, joins us to discuss what a positive CCP antibody really means, where RA may originate, lessons from the STOP-RA trial, whether we should screen people at risk, and how clinicians should counsel patients who test positive for CCP antibodies.
Kevin D. Deane, MD, PhD – Kevin D. Deane, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine and Rheumatologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. He is a prominent specialist and director at the university's Autoimmune Disease Prevention Center, leading groundbreaking research and national trials like StopRA to prevent rheumatoid arthritis.
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