|
|
|
February 2016 • Vol.5, Issue 1 |
|
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
|
|
First of all I want to invite you to Singapore and the 25th Annual Meeting of the Section for Magnetic Resonance Technologists, themed “SMRT: A Silver Anniversary Celebrating Golden Ideas.” Our 2016 Program Chair, Amanda Golsch, and her committee have put together an incredible two-day event. The SMRT Annual Meeting showcases the best clinical and research being presented by MR technologists/radiographers in the world. As last year's breakout sessions were so popular and informative, this year will also include breakout sessions so that we can accommodate a wider array of your interests. A very exciting new aspect of the Annual Meeting is we will provide a web simulcast of selected sessions for those who don’t want to miss a second of all our exciting speakers yet cannot attend the meeting in person. This is an incredible opportunity to make history with us as we go live over the web! Please visit the SMRT website (www.smrt.org) to get more information. Also planned is our poster walking tour followed by the SMRT Annual Meeting Reception. Please join your colleagues for an evening of food, fun and great conversation in a beautiful atmosphere and be a part of the SMRT celebrating the 25th Annual Meeting. I want to personally invite all of you who travel to Singapore to attend the SMRT Business meeting on Saturday of the Annual Meeting. This is a wonderful way to learn what the SMRT has been working on this past year and meet the members of the Policy Board. This is also the part of our meeting where I get to pass the gavel to the incoming President, Jim Stuppino. You will hear from your new President and he will call for new business. Any SMRT member may ask questions, voice concerns or suggest new initiatives for the SMRT to consider. In Toronto, the SMRT provided a forum for MR Program Directors/Educators to share information and possibly work on a worldwide set of standards in MR education. We even had a representative from the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology Radiologic (JRCERT) attend this important event. We are planning on another Program Directors Meeting and would love to see educators from around the world meet and discuss important issues regarding MR education, especially our friends in the Asia Pacific region. It will be open to all SMRT attendees. If you or a colleague would like to attend this meeting please contact me at Barry.Southers@uc.edu, and stay tuned for more information regarding the meeting. It was another excellent year for abstracts. The SMRT Education Committee Chair, Megan Cromer, is preparing to review all submitted abstracts and will work diligently with members of their Education committee to vet and score every one of them. We have 7 oral presentations featuring our winning abstracts in the clinical and research categories and the President’s Award. The Saturday evening poster tour will feature the top 6 clinical and research poster presentations, as well as the JAK Student presentation. Additionally, all posters will be available for viewing throughout the meeting. Be sure to attend the poster tour and see what some of your MR colleagues from around the world have been working on this past year. As my year as President comes to a close, I can say it has truly been an honor to serve. It has been an extremely busy, but successful year but we are not done yet. The SMRT has seen important changes this past year. Many of the changes this past year may not be evident to the membership, but they will help the SMRT to further its vision of striving to be THE leading resource for the global MR community. For instance, in Toronto a task force worked on a strategic plan for the organization. Many items were discussed and eventually through hard work and determination, we created a working strategic plan! As we move forward into the future, we are confident this will help us not only reach our goals, but surpass them. As I mentioned, it is a working, fluid plan, so we will continuously review our goals in order to maximize our successes. Further, we have worked on restructuring the organization of the SMRT to make our work more streamlined and efficient. We’re solidifying our financial foundation working on a new and improved SMRT website, which will have a large section devoted to MR Safety. Over the past year or two, we began offering expanded on-line CE opportunities to not only our members, but to the MR community at large. Thanks to the Safety Committee and our previous President, Maureen “Mo” Hood for all their hard work in getting this accomplished. I would not have been able to have had such a successful year if it had not been for the members of the Executive and Policy Board, plus all the members of the various committees who work hard all year. The activities are too numerous to name them all. I definitely want to thank Mo Hood for all her guidance and tutelage while I was President-Elect. I also want to thank Chris Kokkinos, who put together the Joint Forum on Monday, May 9 on “Update on MRI Contrast Agents: Recent Controversies”, as well as Megan Cromer who is always working hard in the Education Committee. Our Executive Committee members deserve a big thank you as well: Rhonda Walcarius, Sheryl Foster, Chris Kokkinos, Kendra Huber, Jim Stuppino and Mo Hood. I want to thank all the Policy Board members, especially Amanda Golsch, for all they do to make the SMRT the best organization in the world. Many thanks to Kerry Crockett, Associate Executive Director of the ISMRM/SMRT – she is truly the straw that stirs the SMRT drink. Lastly, I want to thank you – all the SMRT members (and those who are not currently members but will be soon). You embody the SMRT mission in all you do: to advance global education in the field of magnetic resonance. This is accomplished not only by attending the two-day Annual Meeting, through the MRI Technologist Listserv, and attending regional meetings held across the globe, but by sharing your collective wisdom to improve our profession. Warmest regards, |
|
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. |
