The 2015 Annual Meeting for the American College of Rheumatology starts in San Francisco later the week.

More than 15,000 attendees from every segment of rheumatology, including clinicians, researchers, and academicians, are headed to San Fran to learn the latest innovations, research, science, business, and best practices in the field.

Association:  American College of Rheumatology

Conference:  2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Venue: Moscone Center

Location: San Francisco

The 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting officially starts on Saturday evening with an opening lecture followed by a reception. Daphne Koller, Ph.D., president and a cofounder of Coursera, an online education platform, will discuss how the massive open online courses model can improve learning experiences and provide access to education to learners around the world. Other meeting details worth noting:

Formats galore. The meeting offers attendees a number of learning formats to choose from. Among them: Study Groups, which bring together attendees with a common interest in one disease or a specialized field of study for discussion, and Meet the Professor Sessions, which allow attendees to interact and consult with highly respected professionals.

On-demand learning. Even if attendees are onsite, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to attend every session they’d like. Lucky for them a year of access to SessionSelect is included in their registration fee. Hundreds of hours of annual meeting content will be recorded and posted online for attendees to go back to and then listen and watch.  Nonattendees can also purchase access.

Debate club. Two different debate sessions will happen during the meeting, which will allow attendees to hear all sides of a controversial issue in the industry. One will focus on long-term, low-dose use of corticosteroid to treat rheumatoid arthritis, while the other will discuss using opioids to treat chronic, non-cancer pain.

Want to watch the meeting from afar? Twitter (#ACR15) and Facebook are your best bets.