Summer 2020 (Volume 30, Number 2)

RheumJeopardy! at the 2020 ASM

By Philip A. Baer, MDCM, FRCPC, FACR

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RheumJeopardy! returned for a fifth consecutive year at the 2020 CRA ASM in Victoria. As per tradition, I created the questions and hosted the event. Questions were also contributed by Dr. Raman Joshi, Dr. John Wade and the CRA Education Committee.

This year, our Chair was last year’s winning captain from the East,
Dr. Valérie Leclair, who tried to predict the outcome in advance based on the team captains’ astrological signs and spirit animals. The East was captained by Dr. Hugues Allard-Chamard, an adult rheumatologist from the University of Sherbrooke. Dr. Lily Lim, a pediatric rheumatologist from the University of Manitoba, captained the West. For the first time this year, captains had the right to overrule their team’s answers, but no one dared to take that risk!

Mark Atkinson redid our slide graphics with a fresh new interface, featuring the Jeopardy! theme song, and sound effects for correct and wrong answers, as well as a timer function. PollEverywhere and the WiFi network functioned perfectly, ensuring a smooth event. Dr. Jane Purvis also assisted, taking photos and tracking which questions were used.

Categories this year included Pediatric Rheumatology, RA/PMR/CBD, Old Drugs New Tricks, Mainly OA, Sight Diagnosis, and Potpourri. CBD could have referred to cannabidiol, but in fact covered Competency by Design, the new Royal College system for evaluating trainees. I had thought that the Pediatric Rheumatology category would favour Dr. Lim’s team, but I learnt that in fact most of the questions covered maternal-fetal medicine, disappointing the pediatric rheumatologists in the audience.

Questions that stumped both teams included:
The bone marrow of a healthy adult produces how many new red blood cells per minute?
Answer: 100 million

Two sight diagnosis questions: one on rotator cuff tear with massive bruising, and another on hard palate hyperpigmentation caused by antimalarials.

A recent pilot study showed the efficacy of which drug in treating fibromyalgia (FM) pain?
Answer: metformin.

A recent UK prospective cohort study showed that glucosamine use lowered the risk of which disease? Answer: cardiovascular disease.

A Swedish study showed, after 17 years of follow-up, that patients with congenital heart block due to Ro/SSA antibodies had which of these outcomes vs. matched controls?
Answer: More cardiomyopathy/CHF and more strokes.

The battle was neck and neck throughout. At the end of regular Jeopardy!, the East led by 200 points, 8,200 to 8,000. Both teams risked everything on one final question, whose topic was once again Famous Canadian Rheumatologists. Artwork created by a former ORA President was shown, with teams choosing between Drs. Jane Purvis, Carter Thorne, Henry Averns and Art Karasik. The correct answer was Dr. Art Karasik (Instagram @karart2016), chosen by both teams, perhap based on his first name. So the final score was East 16,400 and West 16,000.

By the end, it was standing room only at the back of the lecture theatre. With favourable evaluations, RheumJeopardy! may return in Quebec City for the 75th anniversary CRA ASM in 2021. Thanks to all who participated.

Dr. Philip Baer, host of RheumJeopardy! 2020, pictured with Dr. Lily Lim (Team Captain of the West), Dr. Hugues Allard (Team Capatain of the East) and Dr. Valérie Leclair (Chair of this year's event).

Team Captains Dr. Lily Lim and Dr. Hugues Allard view the results of Final Jeopardy.

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