CSME board member Mary-Ann Fitzcharles - a 2021 CRA Master Award recipient

A career in rheumatology over the last 40 plus years has been a privilege and a joy. Reflecting on those years, as is custom at this time in life, many thoughts come to mind. I will therefore take the privilege of stepping outside the usual comfort zone and dare to note a

few memorable persons and instances that I have encountered along this rheumatology road.
I am forever grateful to the late Prof. Derrick Brewerton of HLA B27 fame who was my advisor and friend in London, UK, and guided me in the direction of rheumatology; trembling in my shoes when Dr. Dafna Gladman was my oral examiner for rheumatology; Dr. John Esdaile, with his beautiful fountain pen script who edited our very early papers on fibromyalgia (FM), and told me that FM and pain could be a good career path; literally cutting and pasting a spread sheet on the dining room table with Dr. Matilde Boisset, (a fellow a quarter of a century ago), as we did the analysis of the first FM and sexual abuse paper; Dr Chris Pineau, my wise, knowledgeable and extraordinary boss; and oh so special, all the trainees who participated to bring our clinical studies to fruition……

and then for those amazing patients who I have had the privilege to follow over the years. Just to think of a few: I can still see the young woman with SLE admitted to a nightingale ward of 40 patients at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town in the 1970’s with only corticosteroids as a treatment; the lady farmer who was knocked off her bicycle and developed FM, prompting the concept of a pain condition triggered by an event….and so the story of FM unfolded over the next 20 some years; the delightful but totally non adherent 18-year-old student with RA, who is now a 50-year old delightful and totally adherent high school principal beautifully managed on a biologic; the 80 year old lady with RA who expressed her disappointment in me for not managing her pain adequately, until she slipped a few of her husbands pain pills; the home made cookies at Christmas with the one batch identified as “special”, which I never dared taste: and the many patients who in so many ways have taught me the nuances of medicine, have contributed to teaching our students, and have advocated for the cause of rheumatology patients in Canada.
It is with great humbleness that I thank the CRA for this award.

Regards,

Mary-Ann

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