Dear Colleagues,

We are all very sad by the untimely demise of our beloved Prof Debashish Danda. Danda sir has left a rich legacy for us in the IRA through his years of hard work. We pray that his family which includes hundreds of his students and the countless lives he touched, finds the courage to deal with this profound loss.

The IRA continues to strive to support rapid progress in all areas of rheumatology including clinical care and research. In the January 2024 meeting of the IRA Executive Committee, 4 new memberships were approved, and we welcome these new members. We are revamping our website in a project led by EC members Dr Ranjan Gupta and Dr Mohit Goyal, please watch the space for the new website with several user-friendly features! The IRA webinar series “IRA eConnect 2024-2025” led by a team comprising Dr Damodaram P, Dr Arghya Chattopadhyay, Dr Mohit Goyal and myself started on 7th March 2024. IRA EC has nominated Dr. Keerthi Talari and Dr. Ranjan Gupta as APLAR Young Rheumatologist Local Ambassadors. A total of 54 young IRA members’ names were approved by the IRA secretariat to join the APLAR young rheumatologist group.

As a member of the IRA, you can avail funding for your eligible research.Please visit GRANTS (indianrheumatology.org) for more details and to apply.Funding in the form of travel grants is also available for rheumatology trainees to present their papers at IRACONs and conferences abroad. To propagate the awareness of rheumatic diseases among UGs and postgraduate trainees, IRA’s support is available for our members wishing to organize educational programs in teaching institutions.

Lastly, I would like to appeal to all of you to celebrate and support the month of April as Rheumatology Awareness Month by organizing as many relevant activities and events as possible.

As a stakeholder, your views are very important. Please mail me your suggestions and queries at secretary@indianrheumatology.org.

Best wishes