Since 1990, rheumatologists in the Department of Internal Medicine have organized a day-long medical education symposium for area clinicians to connect and learn about the latest research and treatments available in their subspecialty. Now at 35, the Iowa Rheumatology Symposium is as vital as ever with dozens of attendees from the region and across the state.

Each year, conference organizers plan that year’s symposium around a specific focus. This year’s topic was Sjögren’s syndrome and other IgG4-related diseases. Two keynote presentations anchored this topic from leading experts. The first was John Stone, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the director of clinical rheumatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. The second was Chad Johr, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also directs the Sjögren Center at Penn Medicine. Johr is also a graduate of Iowa’s rheumatology fellowship and was welcomed back to Iowa and introduced by one of his former instructors and mentors, Petar Lenart, MD.

After a snack and social break, the rest of the morning and early afternoon proceeded with Iowa faculty. Conference organizers ensured a diversity of voices a pediatrician, a pulmonologist, and an otolaryngologist presenting a variety of angles on Sjögren’s and IgG4-related diseases. A “thieves’ market” of case-based presentations from rheumatology fellows closed out the day.

Congratulations to symposium director Hanna Zembrzuska, MD, MME, and the rest of the division’s support staff Danielle Allen, Andrew Huizer, Aaron Knaack, and Lynne Thomas on organizing and delivering this year’s event.