MAY 2013 • Vol. 2, Issue 2

Meet Your New SMRT President

Ben Kennedy, B.App.Sc. (MIT) MMRT


“Our membership needs to know that we have great resources to help them every step of the way in numerous avenues and we always encourage new blood to bring fresh ideas and innovation.”
Editor’s note: An interview with Ben Kennedy introduces us to the new President.

Signals: Ben, since becoming a Radiographer in 1993, you have obtained additional education which involved traveling a great distance to another country. Can you tell us why you chose that pathway for training?

In 1993, MRI was in a few hospital institutions around capital cities in Australia and was in the early stages of expansion. I had learned basic MRI physics as part of our curriculum in our undergraduate degree as a Radiographer but knew this technology was quite rare at this early stage and only the experienced Radiographers were allowed access. I still recall the very first MR image of a sagittal T1 brain which was shown in one of our lectures in advanced techniques. I knew immediately this was where we were headed in the future but also knew I would be waiting a fair time to learn my other Radiography disciplines and wait my turn for when I could begin training in MRI. Through a radiographer exchange program between The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, Australia and St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England I had the opportunity to have exposure to the MRI department. A friend who was working there allowed me to attend scanning sessions in my spare time, which led to some hands on experience. Eventually when a position became available, I was very fortunate to acquire a permanent role. I knew this was a perfect opportunity so I grabbed it with both hands. This new position involved training on both diagnostic and interventional research type scanners. I was sent for formal training around the United Kingdom as well as hands on mentorship through the innovative work being done at this institution.

After returning to Australia, I found another permanent MRI role at the Gold Coast Hospital under the mentorship of a very experienced Radiographer who continued my training to higher levels and guided my post graduate study towards achieving a Masters in MR technology at the University of Queensland. This overseas pathway opened doors back in Australia which were not possible had I not taken the opportunity whilst in London. I am forever grateful for that first role. This experience led to more roles in setting up and managing new MRI services in both public and private institutions as I have moved through my career.

Signals: How has your advanced education both in Australia and abroad helped you in your current work?

Through mentorships and study programs in both regions, I have learned many lessons, sometimes quite painfully. I have been very fortunate to have great mentors around me to keep me on a path of learning which will never finish and who have reminded me, when I needed it, that I still have much to learn. MRI is always evolving and it doesn’t matter how much experience you have or how much study you do, you can never know everything. You must continuously question yourself in order to keep learning and growing. We have all made mistakes which have taught us more than what we can read in a book.

Although there are so many ways to scan, there are also many ways to explain what we are doing. Becoming a mentor to other Radiographers; it has been important to pass these lessons on and keep people thinking rather than just pressing buttons. One of the great things about our profession is that most of us are like minded and love to network our information. My training and study in Australia led me to the SMRT as an amazing network of learning and a generous culture of sharing information. It’s through this culture that not only have I become more knowledgeable in MRI, I have learned many new and innovative ways to teach, both the new recruits to MRI and the more advanced users. These relationships have grown into a virtual family which continues to grow each year.

Signals: The SMRT strives to provide dedicated quality education for MR professionals. Will your educational experience help you lead the SMRT to develop the programs needed throughout the world?
Through my experience as local, regional and international program chairs, I have learned that there is a wide diversity of needs in different MRI communities around the world. Programs need to be tailored to these needs. It is important that we communicate with our networks throughout the world to learn of specific needs to all clinical and research MRI communities. Through these networks, we can coordinate specific speakers who can speak on hot topics of advances in MRI innovations as well as cover the safety and optimization techniques to get the best out of our systems. I also encourage Radiographer/Technologist speakers to integrate with our programs to give their perspectives which will often link the Medical and MR Physics perspectives together.

As this technology is now becoming available to many regions of the world in recent times, there is a need for these Radiographer/Technologists to get access to basic education, in particular MRI safety. Whilst a company can spend large amounts of money in equipment and installation, I commonly hear that training can be quite limited, especially where there are no formal courses and vendor applications training resources can also be limited. Being able to reach these communities is very important. We are integrating more with the ISMRM outreach program to ensure some technologist component is being included in these programs and getting out membership information to allow access to an endless world of on-line educational content. Language is also a barrier in some of these regions so solutions are always being investigated.

Signals: Since you began your career the methods of communication among professionals has progressed exponentially via electronic media. Describe how your leadership will use electronic and social media to promote the SMRT and provide educational information to members.

When I first learned of the SMRT, I was made aware of the Listserve, which still fills my inbox on a daily basis. This is still a very effective way for getting answers relatively fast, however we have access to other media which is commonly used for many of us on a regular basis such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Like it or not, these new media interfaces are here to stay and will continue to integrate into our electronic devices. It’s important that we use this opportunity to increase our communication with our MRI communities and allow them access to give feedback. By increasing this communication, we will be more responsive to our community’s needs and we will improve our ability to share valuable learning opportunities. These media interfaces are still evolving into a higher degree of interaction and we are yet to see their true potential. This is a great opportunity for me to directly communicate with our MRI communities on a more frequent basis about our activities and our long term goals.

Whilst our website has been revamped over the last year, we will be increasing the intuitiveness of the front page to allow easier navigation to access the endless resources we have available on-line. Being able to access fast credit for our members has become a priority and we are looking at ways to make this more efficient. By integrating new programming to on-line content, technologists will be able to answer questions on-line and get certification immediately. Being able to track our credit automatically is also a priority as a high percentage of our members would rely on this. We are currently integrating this feature for the North American members and will continue to develop this feature throughout the international community where possible as many countries require mandatory educational credit per year.

Signals: Are there other goals or areas that you hope to address during your year as President?

Communication with our membership is a priority for my term. Our membership is growing continuously and we need to maintain a high level of visibility to our members. We also need to engage with our members to ensure we continue on the path that best meets their needs. We have opportunities in education as well as ways to become more involved in the SMRT. These can be in leadership opportunities, contributing to the annual meeting, or organizing an educational meeting in your local region. Our membership needs to know that we have great resources to help them every step of the way in numerous avenues and we always encourage new blood to bring fresh ideas and innovation.

I am also focused on integrating more closely with our parent society, the ISMRM. We have many opportunities to work more closely together to have more technologist content in ISMRM educational programs throughout the year as well as the ISMRM Annual Meeting. Encouraging and making use of the synergies that exist between the ISMRM and the SMRT will strengthen what we deliver for our membership.

Overall, I will endeavor to focus on improving the value we can bring to our membership and to continuously search for ways we can strengthen our society by embracing all members needs regardless of their level of experience. We have a strong network throughout the world with a generous sharing culture. My presidency will be focused on strengthening and growing that culture through improving communication and delivering better educational services to our community.