Thieves' Market

The application period for the 2022 Thieves' Market is now closed!

The original Thieves’ Market was located off the Sungei Road in Singapore after WWII. There, contraband goods, which had previously been looted from the British Military or stolen from other places, were sold. People would go there with the hope of finding lost items. Similarly, Rheumatologists have been attending “Thieves’ Markets” at Rheumatology meetings for decades with the hope of finding lost diagnoses. The educational purpose of this learning style is to tease savvy rheumatologists with diagnostically challenging patient presentations. It seems to help us become more discerning diagnosticians (an important attribute of all rheumatologists) recognized by our peers in medicine.

The successful Thieves’ Market case will be:

• A well-rehearsed presentation of a patient with a rare disease, or
• A well-rehearsed presentation of a common disease with a rare presentation.
• The fellow will engage the audience in asking "what would you do next."
• The case must be a real case.
• One does not want to reveal too much information too early or it spoils the intellectual challenge.
• Case may consist of no more than ten (10) slides in PowerPoint format.
   ​

We encourage and invite all member fellows, residents, and medical students to submit their cases for the 2022 Pennsylvania Rheumatology Society Annual Meeting. A panel of physician judges will review all cases and select those to be presented live during the 2022 Annual Meeting. Case reports are acceptable as long as there is some aspect of clinical import (i.e. adds to our knowledge/understanding of a particular disease or disease management). The top three winners will present live at the 2022 Annual Meeting in Hershey, PA. Runners-up will be invited to share their posters at the Annual Meeting.

PRS staff will contact you directly once judging has closed and acceptance has been confirmed. 

Not a member of PRS? Click here to apply.
​
IMPORTANT: PRS urges you to read the eligibility requirements and application instructions on the application page carefully and thoroughly. If you have not done so already, you need to create an account on the OpenWater platform to submit your presentation. This account is NOT linked to your PRS website log-in. Please review your application before clicking "save and finalize". To be eligible to participate in the Thieves' Market, you must be a member of PRS. Click here to submit your membership application.