%0 Journal Article
%T A peripatetic pediatrician's journey into pediatric rheumatology
%A Earl J Brewer
%J Pediatric Rheumatology
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1546-0096-5-11
%X "I think I saw it arrive, although I cannot specify its birthday or place and I am damned if I can read the father's signature on the birth certificate. We are very fortunately a small enough group to know each other personally and to cooperate and enjoy each other's company." Eric Bywaters, Park City I Meeting. 1976, [figure 1]."Thirteen physicians including two Nobel Laureates in 1932 held the first meeting of the American Committee for the Control of Rheumatism. In five years it became the American Rheumatism Association (ARA). I first attended the seventh meeting of the ARA in June 1940. Only five papers were presented. Three (60%) of the papers were devoted to children with rheumatic disease. One of the papers was by Dr. William Green, an orthopedist at the Children's Hospital in Boston. His subject, "Mono-articular and Pauciarticular Arthritis in Children." J. Sydney Stillman, Park City II Meeting. 1986"In the beginning we were a handful of na£żve but eager and explorative, young physicians of disparate training, background, and temperament. We joined together with a vision of doing whatever was necessary to find better ways to study the rheumatic diseases of childhood and adolescence, and to treat our patients more effectively in a comprehensive continuum of care." Earl Brewer and Joseph Levinson, Foreword, Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology. 2005As I enter my seventy-ninth year, my attention turns to committing to paper, memories and thoughts about my professional journey into what we now call pediatric rheumatology. Since my retirement seventeen years ago, several colleagues and friends have encouraged me to describe the road on which we all traveled to provide better care and research for children with arthritis.My approach will be to share personal memories and thoughts about how I came to the table and what happened along the way. There will be no attempt at a global history of our field and no attempt to impartially tell the story of others who labored s
%U http://www.ped-rheum.com/content/5/1/11