Summer 2018 (Volume 28, Number 2)

RheumJeopardy! at the 2018 CRA ASM

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Gamification and rheumatology intersected for a third consecutive year at the 2018 CRA ASM in Vancouver. More than one hundred attendees actively participated in the traditional Friday afternoon timeslot for the event, using PollEverywhere technology. Once again, the audience was divided into East and West teams. Vinod Chandran, the winning team captain from 2017, chaired the session. David Robinson from Manitoba captained the West, and Rosie Scuccimarri from Montreal captained the East. Rosie brought boxing gloves for the pre-match captains’ sparring session, and a dizzying array of hockey jerseys which she donned and doffed throughout the game. Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa were represented, and possibly others.

Categories this year included Rheumatology Potpourri, Rheumatology in Art, “Old Drugs, New Tricks”, Osteoarthritis, Sight Diagnoses and Numbers. A new feature highlighted seven of the 30 questions as “Moderator’s Favourites”, which were my personal picks as the most interesting, challenging and/or humorous. The captains showed a distinct preference for the highest point value questions, however.

The CRA meeting theme this year was Personalized Medicine, which was featured in questions about tocilizumab as an antidote to side effects of CAR-T therapy in oncology, and on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for patients with osteoarthritis. The potential benefits of tequila for osteoporosis (a study from Mexico) and urinating in the standing position for women with knee OA (a study from China) were also explored. A question on pharmaceutical industry history confirmed that Union Chimique Belge (UCB) was started by Emmanuel Janssen, not the mythical Ulrich Carl Bilsberg, while Paul Janssen (no relation) founded Janssen Inc.

At the end of the allotted time, East led West 1,400 to 1,200 going into Final Jeopardy, which featured the traditional category of Famous Canadian Rheumatologists. This year’s question paid tribute to those who have left us in recent years, including Drs. Jack Stein, Howard Stein, Bill Bensen and Jerry Tenenbaum.

Both teams wagered all they had, leaving the East victorious with 2,800 points and the West with the same score they had started the game with.

Special thanks to our captains and chair, and to Drs. Shelly Dunne and Shirley Tse for taking photos and keeping track of the questions used. Mark Atkinson and his technical team worked diligently to manage the required IT work, including a new feature which allowed us to hide the voting tallies until voting was complete.

Depending on the desires of CRA members and the ASM Planning Committee, and audience evaluations, we hope to be back for RheumJeopardy! at the 2019 CRA ASM in Montreal.

Drs. David Robinson and Rosie Scuccimarri battle it out during the pre-match captains' sparring session.

Dr. Philip Baer, host of RheumJeopardy! 2018, pictured with Dr. David Robinson (Team Captain of the West), Dr. Rosie Scuccimarri (Team Captain of the East), and Dr. Vinod Chandran (Chair of this year's event).

Philip A. Baer, MDCM, FRCPC, FACR
Editor-in-chief, CRAJ
Scarborough, Ontario