CRAJ Winter 2023

Winter 2023 (Volume 33, Number 4)

News from SOAR

By Evelyn Sutton, MD, FRCPC, FACP

Attendees at SOAR are encouraged to bring their families and, over the years, not only have the rheumatologists formed strong friendships, but so have their children. It is a fantastic conference for rheumatologists to learn from each other and guest lecturers, yet not lose time with family. The weekend agenda, tried and true for 39 years, is of educational activities restricted to Saturday and Sunday mornings. On Saturday afternoon attendees choose between participating in the annual golf competition (with allegedly fabulous prizes for the winners) or selecting their own activity.

This past meeting, June 23rd–25th, was again a wonderful mix of education and fun at Dalvay by the Sea. Most families arrived in time Friday evening for a buffet dinner, and the saying “no one grows faster than other people’s children” was in full evidence through the now-grown daughters of New Brunswick rheumatologist, Leo Picard, and Nova Scotia’s Volodko Bakowsky. Regular attendees could remember these young women when they came to SOAR as literally babes in arms. It was wonderful to witness the delight with which they greeted each other and to see them welcome the younger children of newer SOAR members.

Drs. Jason An and Sebastian Unizony were our guest experts this year and provided state-of-the-art lectures on autoinflammatory/immune dysregulation and vasculitis respectively. I highly recommend them both to other groups looking for engaging and informative speakers (speaking of other people’s children growing fast, I recalled meeting Dr. An when he was an Internal Medicine resident at the University of Alberta!).

We are heading back to Dalvay for the 40th anniversary of SOAR, and all former members are welcome to join us. Our guest speakers will be Dr. Tom Appleton and Dr. Hughes Allard-Chamard. I am confident we will have another great meeting, East Coast style.

Best wishes to all!

From left to right: Dr. Sebastian Unizony, Dr. Alexa Smith
(last year's SOAR president) and Dr. Jason An.

Evelyn Sutton, MD, FRCPC, FACP
President, SOAR
Past-President, Canadian Rheumatology Association
Associate Dean,
Undergraduate Medical Education
Professor of Medicine,
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia