A new role for the ara in guiding our destiny

It is with considerable pleasure that I address you at the 1987 annual meeting of the American Rheumatism Association. Lois and I have very much enjoyed the opportunity to interact with so many outstanding people in the field during the past five years that I have served as an officer of this organization. What is especially exciting and gratifying for me now is to be part of the new American Rheumatism Association. Our organization has evolved dramatically over the past five years. No longer are we a group committed solely to publishing a reasonable subspecialty journal and putting on a good national meeting once a year. We now have the organization firmly in place that will enable us not only to handle these traditional responsibilities but also to identify those issues that will affect our professional destiny and to provide, on behalf of our membership, influential guidance at the national level. Let me review some of these recent changes which have occurred in the new ARA. First, the critical issues involved in the dissociation of the ARA and the Arthritis Foundation now are resolved and