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July 2015 • Vol. 4, Issue 3 |
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
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Hello, My name is Barry Southers, 2015-2016 SMRT President. I wanted to take some time to let you know what has and will be going on with the SMRT over the next year. First of all, I want to thank everyone in attendance at the 2015 SMRT Annual Meeting in beautiful Toronto, Canada. We had 403 attendees for the meeting this year, which is the 2nd highest attendance for an Annual Meeting ever! We had a lot of great Canadian attendees who came from places such as Calgary, Timmons, Windsor, and of course the greater Toronto area and we really appreciate their support. Canada was a great place to hold a meeting! So, thank you all so much for making this year's Annual Meeting a successful one. We have already shifted gears and are looking toward Singapore in 2016, which is only 10 months away. It is hard to believe, I know, but the time will be here before we realize it. We promise to have another wonderful agenda complete with internationally renowned speakers presenting on dynamic, cutting-edge topics. Stay tuned and keep an eye on our website, smrt.org, for information regarding the 2016 Singapore meeting, including important dates for abstract submissions, speaker and topics, and hotel information. Over the past few months, the SMRT leadership has been working with a wonderful company, Minding Your Business, to create and implement a strategic plan. I had the privilege of being part of the strategic plan meeting held a couple days before the 2015 Annual Meeting in Toronto. We want to make sure we have a plan going forward to ensure we are not only meeting the expectations of our members, but also exceeding them. Part of this also includes working toward offering more digital education – which a lot of our members have expressed interest in. While it has been a tough job it has been a rewarding one and we are looking forward to working on this more, as well as starting to see some of our ideas come to fruition. The SMRT is an international organization. While we have done a pretty good job over the years, we can always improve educational opportunities across the world, especially in underserved areas. We are working with countries across the world to try to change that and hopefully in the next year or so we will have educational opportunities in some areas that could really use it. Another exciting thing that is on the horizon is our new and improved website! I have seen the template and it looks very nice. Further, it seems to work across all platforms so you can view it at home on your laptop, in your office on your desktop, or any tablet and smartphone. Be on the lookout for this in the upcoming weeks as well! Lastly, I want to thank you all for being such loyal SMRT members. Times have been tough for a lot of us in the field so it is truly appreciated that you come to us as a leader in MR education and information. We appreciate all our members and please know we are working hard to provide you with the best educational materials in a wide array of methods. I strongly encourage you to support your local SMRT chapter and attend a chapter or regional meeting in your area, check out some of our expert-reviewed Home Studies courses, and of course, keep reading Signals! Thank you and hope to see you in Singapore in early May 2016. |
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Signals is a publication produced four times per calendar year by the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine for the benefit of the SMRT membership and those individuals and organizations that support the educational programs and professional advancement of the SMRT and its members. The newsletter is the compilation of editor, Julie Strandt-Peay, BSM, RT (R)(MR) FSMRT, the leadership of the SMRT and the staff in the ISMRM Central Office with contributions from members and invited participants. |
