Presenter

• 
  Mary Chester Wasko (Learn More)
  Dr. Mary Chester M. Wasko is Emeritus Professor at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She retired in 2022 after 32 years of practice as fulltime faculty, first at the University of Pittsburgh, then AHN. She has taught trainees at all levels throughout her career. While she was Division Director at AHN, Dr Wasko oversaw the successful initiation of a fellowship training program to help address the national shortage of rheumatologists. As a clinician scientist, she has had external funding from the NIH, American Heart Association and the Arthritis Foundation to study the risk factors of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis. She directed numerous clinical trials evaluating new biologic agents for the treatment of RA. Currently she is preparing to begin parttime rheumatology work at a Federally Qualified Health Center in North Carolina near her hometown. She and her husband will be moving there from Pittsburgh in early 2024.
• 
  Thomas Tryon (Learn More)
  Dr. Tom Tryon is a general pediatrician with broad-based experience in adult and pediatric ER and Urgent Care as well as primary care pediatrics and pediatric urgent care. Following residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Dr. Tryon practiced for four years as a solo practitioner and sole pediatrician in a rural community, as well as a half-time solo ER physician in a Level III Trauma Center ED. He then moved his pediatric practice to an urban solo practice for six years, where he also worked half-time as an adult minor ER and Urgent Care physician. He is an Urgent Care Physician and Professor of Pediatrics at UMKC School of Medicine. Dr. Tryon has served in multiple leadership roles with three different hospitals including Chief of OB/Peds, Chief of Pediatrics, Chief of Medicine for a 370- bed adult and pediatric health system, and Associate Division Director of Urgent Care for his current children’s hospital. Recently, he served as Pediatric Section Chair for the Urgent Care Association as well as a Director on the Board of Directors and as Secretary of the Board of Directors. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics and a Fellow in the College of Urgent Care Medicine.