Panamerican League of Associations for Rheumatology
PANLAR, the Panamerican League of Associations for Rheumatology is an association of Rheumatology professional bodies from member nations of North, Central and South Americas. The Pan American League of Associations of Rheumatology, founded in 1943, gathers the scientific societies of rheumatology, health professionals related to rheumatic illnesses and rheumatic patient associations of all countries in the Americas. The mission of PANLAR is to stimulate, promote and support research, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of the rheumatic illnesses. The rheumatology field includes the rheumatic illnesses of the connective tissue, locomotive apparatus and musculoskeletical system. PANLAR is organized through four geographical areas:
In 1941, Dr. Aníbal Ruiz Moreno together with Dr. Fernando Herrera Ramos, submitted the idea of an ILAR regional league to Ralph Pemberton, then president of ILAR. In 1942, by request of Pemberton, the ARA accepted the proposal set forth by the South American doctors. A committee comprising doctors Russell Cecil, Robert Osgood, Ralph Boots, Loring Swain, Paul Holbrook and future Nobel Prize winner Philip Hench gave its final agreement and, soon afterward, with support from physicians in Canada, Chile, Brazil and Mexico, a path had been cleared to the creation of a society that grouped all rheumatologists in the continent. The committee suggested the creation of a provisional board to draw its charter, with Ruiz Moreno as president, Herrera Ramos as secretary, Richard Freyberg, from the U.S., as vice president and Wallace Graham, from Canada, as treasurer. On May 31, 1944, after two years of hard work by the committee, the Pan-American League for the Study and Control of Rheumatic Disease came into existence. A few days later, its name would be changed to the Pan-American League Against Rheumatism. A month later, Loring T. Swain, the first person to hold the position of secretary, announced its foundation to the medical community in the U.S. and abroad. In a letter addressed to the editor of JAMA, he wrote: “On June 15, I received a letter from Dr. Aníbal Ruiz Moreno of Buenos Aires, who has been chosen as the provisional director of the PANLAR committee, duly signaling that our Pan-American league is a reality.” PANLAR would become the first ILAR regional league. Its first president was Dr. Ralph Pemberton, who acted as such until his death in 1949. Dr. Ruiz Moreno followed suit between 1949 and 1953, while his friend Dr. Herrera Ramos headed the institution between 1955 and 1959. The first Pan-American Congress of Rheumatology was held in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in 1955 at the Copacabana, it featured an audience of 239 from 15 countries and provided an image of high quality and excellent organization. Since then PANLAR has hosted 20 Panamerican Congresses.
PANLAR Today
PANLAR has experienced tremendous growth. It now operates in four regions with 21 member countries: North, Central America, Bolivarian, and Southern Cone. Study groups were drafted during Antonio Reginato’s presidency in the first decade of the 21st century, and later the entity was organized as a 501 nonprofit based in Atlanta. The 2016–18 Executive Committee, headed by Dr. Carlo V. Caballero, President-Elect Enrique Soriano, Secretary General Carlos Lozada and Former President Carlos Pineda, drafted a six-year development plan, approved by the Governing Board, the purpose of which is to stimulate excellence of rheumatology in the American continent and to advance the shared vision of becoming the main supplier of education and science, practice standards and rheumatology in Latin America. One pillar of this development plan is innovation.
Presidents
1944 – 1949 RALPH PEMBERTON, EEUU 1949 – 1953 ANIBAL RUIZ MORENO, Argentina 1953 – 1955 RICHARD FREYBERG, EEUU 1955 – 1959 FERNANDO HERRERA RAMOS, Uruguay 1959 – 1963 WALLACE GRAHAM, Canadá 1963 – 1967 PEDRO NAVA, Brasil 1967 – 1970 RICHARD SMITH, EEUU 1970 – 1974 FERNANDO VALENZUELA, Chile 1974 – 1978 PINDARO MARTINEZ-ELIZONDO, México 1978 – 1982 OSVALDO GARCIA MORTEO, Argentina 1982 – 1986 LAWRENCE SHULMAN, EEUU 1986 – 1990 ADIL MUHIB SAMARA, Brasil 1990 – 1994 DUNCAN GORDON, Canadá 1994 – 1998 HUGO JASIN, Argentina 1998 – 2002 ABRAHAM GARCIA KUTZBACH, Guatemala 2002 – 2006 ANTONIO REGINATO,* Chile 2006 – 2008 JUAN ANGULO SOLIMANO, Perú 2008 – 2010 LUIS ESPINOZA, Perú 2010 – 2012 ANTONIO XIMENES Brasil 2012 – 2014 JOHN REVEILLE. EEUU 2014 – 2016 CARLOS PINEDA VILLASEÑOR México 2016 – 2018 CARLO VINICIO CABALLERO-URIBE Colombia 2018-2020 ENRIQUE SORIANO Argentina
