Prof. Gail Kerr is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, holds the DM in Medicine and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, UK. She has been in academic medicine since the 1990’s and is currently Professor of Medicine at Georgetown and Howard University. She also serves as Chief of Rheumatology at the DC Veteran Affairs Medical Center and Howard University. Dr. Kerr has been involved in the initiation of multiple clinical registries: VARA, CRYSTAL and PULSAR covering rheumatoid arthritis, gout and the spondylarthropathies, respectively, in the VA system, and EMRAC – engaging private and academic practices that care for rheumatoid arthritis in ethnic minorities. As the Director of Clinical Research in the Alliance of Women in Rheumatology, she has also initiated the capture of rheumatoid arthritis clinical parameters via EHRs in routine care, aimed at the assessment of disease burden in various geographic locales. Through these efforts, she has authored many abstracts and manuscripts on various aspects of rheumatic diseases. Dr. Kerr, through her establishment of VARC, has provided a forum for VA rheumatologists to meet, discuss and corporate in delivering best practice management of rheumatic diseases to Veterans. She is currently a Board Member of the Institute of Clinical Research, at the DC VAMC, and of the Association of Women in Rheumatology.