2008 American College of Rheumatology Annual Conference

From left: Cathy Eddy, Scleroderma Foundation Northern California Chapter President; Kerri Connolly, Scleroderma Foundation Education Manager; and Robert Riggs, Scleroderma Foundation Chief Development Officer

This past weekend, staff members from the Scleroderma Foundation's national office served as exhibitors at this year's American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Conference held in San Francisco, California. Over 18,000 attendees, many of whom were medical professionals, arrived at the conference eager to learn and discuss new information in the rheumatology field. The Scleroderma Foundation presided over its own exhibit booth and launched its first ever presentation of the ECHO campaign (www.echossc.org).

The ECHO Campaign, a product of both the Foundation and leading rheumatologist and pulmonary hypertension specialists, is a program geared towards educating rheumatologists and other medical professionals about the risk of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) among scleroderma patients and the need for annual echocardiograms to both diagnose and treat symptoms.

Staff members in attendance agreed that the ACR conference provided the perfect forum to launch the ECHO Campaign. Immersed in a target demographic of rheumatologists and physicians, the campaign was a resounding success for the Foundation. It also provided a means by which the Foundation could educate more individuals about scleroderma. "Everyone was very interested and appreciative of the many educational materials, including those on the ECHO campaign, that were available at our table," notes Kerri Connolly, Foundation Education Manager. "I was able to talk with rheumatologists and physicians about scleroderma, and its connection to PAH."

Many workshops were given over the course of the five-day conference, which began on October 24th and concluded on October 29th. Overall, the Foundation's presence at the conference was a prime opportunity to spread awareness and distribute information about the disease and the ECHO campaign.