Winter 2020 (Volume 30, Number 4)
Communications Committee Update
By Dax G. Rumsey, MD, MSc, FRCP(C)
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The year 2020 has been an interesting year for everyone (to say the least) and the Communications
Committee is no exception to this!
Our major initiative this year has been launching
the official podcast of the CRA, Around the Rheum.
We took advantage of what may prove to be the
last in-person meeting for some time by recording several
episodes of the podcast at the Annual Scientific Meeting
(ASM) in Victoria back in February (which seems like
years ago now)! We have been releasing these episodes
throughout the year. With the support of the Canadian
Medical Association, Scotia Bank, and MD Management,
we have also been working on a special COVID-19 series
of episodes. We have had excellent feedback on the podcast
so far and have had over 1,700 listens to date! A big
thank you goes out to the Around The Rheum team, which
include Kevin Baijnauth (Marketing and Communications
Coordinator of the CRA), David McGuffin (Producer from
Explore Podcast Productions with extensive experience),
Dr. Daniel Ennis (adult rheumatologist based in Vancouver
and our host), and Aaron Fontwell (Producer from
Fontwell Estate Creative Agency, who has been helping us
with the final mixing).
Another one of our initiatives has been improving the
social media presence of the CRA. We have been actively
using our Twitter account (@CRASCRRheum) to promote
events happening within our community and to share major/
interesting rheumatology publications and guidelines.
We have also launched "Rheum for Growth," an accounting
column aimed at both practicing rheumatologists and
rheumatology trainees who are about to enter the workforce.
This column is written by Peter Simpson, CPA, CMA,
the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the CRA, based on
topics that our committee thinks will be of interest to the
membership.
In addition, we continue to interview members of the
community for our "Who’s in the Rheum?" column. The
Communications Committee also performs several other
formal and informal communications functions, including
the vetting of surveys, liaising with outside organizations
who wish to communicate with our membership, and other
related tasks.
We are open to new and fresh ideas/input and encourage
any CRA members interested in joining our committee
to drop us a line! You may contact me at dax.rumsey@ahs.ca
or Kevin Baijnauth at kbaijnauth@rheum.ca.
Dax G. Rumsey, MD, MSc, FRCP(C)
Chair, CRA Communications Committee
Zone Section Chief, Paediatric Rheumatology,
Alberta Health Services – Edmonton Zone (Stollery Children’s
Hospital)
Division Director, Paediatric Rheumatology,
Assistant Professor, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
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