Keith Reich, DO, center, chairman of the Franciscan Medical Specialists rheumatology department and director its fellowship program, congratulates fellows Julie Jones and Mark Vercel, both DOs, for taking fourth place out of 16 teams competing in a Jeopardy quiz show-style Knowledge Bowl recently at the American College of Rheumatology’s national meeting, which had 16,000 attendees, and took place in San Francisco. No osteopathic rheumatology program previously had achieved that level of success.
The contestants, who work from Franciscan Medical Specialists’ Schererville location, credited Dr. Reich for their success, adding they met every Saturday for about six weeks to prepare, in addition to what they learned daily under his tutelage and by scrimmaging with another team. Dr. Reich said, “They were the ones up there competing, so they deserve the credit. I am proud of them.” Various categories spanned the gamut of clinical and immunological aspects of rheumatology, he added. The team won the right to defend its accomplishment at next year’s contest in Washington, D.C. Dr. Jones will have completed her fellowship by then, so Dr. Vercel already is working with an incoming fellow to prepare.