15 May 2003

Dear ISMRM Colleagues:

I am pleased to be able to report to society members that program planning for the rescheduled 10-16 July Annual ISMRM meeting is proceeding quickly. Within just a week of rescheduling we received tremendous support with more than 90% of presenters in all categories (plenaries, courses and scientific presentations and posters) confirming that they will present at the new meeting.  At the same time, new registrations for the rescheduled meeting continue to come in.

Norman Ramsey, the 2003 Lauterbur lecturer, was one of the first to confirm his attendance on the new dates, all of our Gold and Bronze corporate members will be exhibiting at the meeting and we have a full social program arranged.

As you will know queues for email booths have been a common frustration in previous meetings and I would like to remind you that this meeting will be our first with wireless networking available to delegates providing access to internet, email and program information. There will be numerous “hot spots” in the convention centre providing coverage for those of you with 802.11b “wi-fi” capability on your laptops/pdas and there will be help available for those to whom this is unknown territory.

Given the rapid pace of discovery in our field, and the 2 month delay in holding our annual meeting, the scientific program committee has instituted a special new category of scientific submission for this meeting.    The “Late Breaking MR” section of the new Program will truly reflect the latest developments in MR worldwide.  Details for this new opportunity to present your work are provided on the ISMRM website.  Please note that the deadline for submissions is 28^th May and that we are now making provision for these to be published electronically with a citable ISSN number.

There is clearly still more hard work for us to do before the meeting but I would like to thank you for your rapid, positive responses and support for the society.  Please check with the website to find out about the latest developments and for current information on travel and accommodation and I look forward to seeing you in July.

David J. Lomas, M.B., B.Chir., F.R.C.R.
Chair, Scientific Program Committee