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O’DELL NAMED SECRETARY OF AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY

ATLANTA – James R. O’Dell, MD, Larson professor of internal medicine; chief, section of rheumatology; vice-chairman and residency program director, department of internal medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Neb. was appointed secretary of the American College of Rheumatology during the ACR's annual business meeting, held Tuesday, October 20 in Philadelphia, Pa.

Dr. O’Dell received his undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in electrical engineering.  He received his medical degree and completed a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. Dr. O’Dell completed a clinical and research fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver in 1984 and is board certified in both internal medicine and rheumatology. Dr. O’Dell founded and has directed the Rheumatoid Arthritis Investigational Network (RAIN) for the last 20 years. RAIN is a group of rheumatologists who conduct investigator-initiated trials to find better treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. This research network has pioneered the use of combinations of medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis, was one of the first groups to describe genetic factors that predict response to therapy, and has done extensive work with the use of minocycline in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. 

Dr. O’Dell has published extensively, mostly in the area of rheumatoid arthritis, and recently authored “Drug Therapy: Rheumatoid Arthritis” for the New England Journal of Medicine.  He has presented frequently at national and international meetings and has more than 100 published articles in top-level rheumatology journals. He has received many awards for teaching excellence, was recently honored with the Nebraska ACP Laureate Award and as a distinguished Scientist at UNMC. In 2008, he received the Department of Internal Medicine Career Research award. He has served on numerous American College of Rheumatology committees over the last 20 years, including time on both the ACR and REF boards of directors as well as a two-year term as president of the ACR Research and Education Foundation. Additionally, he is currently serving as co-editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism.

The ACR is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or at risk for arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. For more information about the ACR, see www.rheumatology.org.

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