ISMRM Questions & Answers
Last updated 19 June 2008
 

What awards are given by the ISMRM?

What is the ISMRM journals’ policy on publishing color?

What are the selection criteria for the different awards?

What are the categories of individual membership in ISMRM and what are the qualifications for each category?

Can I find the guidelines used to select awardees somewhere on the ISMRM Website?

Why does ISMRM have two journals?

Where can I find the names of the present awardees?

What do my membership dues cover?

Who is eligible to serve on the Awards Committee and how are they selected?

Why does the ISMRM maintain a large amount of funds in reserve?

What is the mission of the Society?

What are some of the important timelines and activities for the Scientific Program Committee?

What proportion of the members are clinical and what proportion are basic scientists/engineers?

What is the distribution of the membership by continent or country?

How are the scope of the Scientific and Weekend Educational programs determined?  How do you avoid or minimize overlap?

What awards are given by the ISMRM?

 The ISMRM gives five types of award:

• Gold Medal

• Distinguished Service (Silver) Medal

• Fellow of the Society

• Honorary Member

• Young Investigator Awards: I.I. Rabi Award for Basic Science and W.S. Moore Award for Clinical Science

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What are the selection criteria for the different awards?

• Gold Medal: Awarded for major research contributions to the field of Magnetic Resonance within the scope of the Society’s purposes.

• Distinguished Service (Silver) Medal: Awarded for outstanding contributions to the operation, effectiveness or good reputation of the Society (or the Predecessor Societies)

• Fellow of the Society: Awarded for significant and substantial contributions to research in a field within the Society’s purposes or for significant contributions to the development of the Society and/or any of the Predecessor Societies.

• Honorary Member: Awarded in recognition of major achievements in the field of Magnetic Resonance. Honorary Members are exempt from Membership dues.

• Young Investigator Awards: The I.I. Rabi Award is bestowed on an outstanding young basic scientist on the basis of work submitted to the Subcommittee on the Young Investigator Awards. The W.S. Moore Award is bestowed on an outstanding young clinicial scientist on the basis of work submitted to the Subcommittee on the Young Investigator Awards.

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Can I find the guidelines used to select awardees somewhere on the ISMRM Website?

 This information is available to ISMRM Members at http://cds.ismrm.org/protected/Members/awards.htm

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Where can I find the names of the present awardees?

This information is available at http://www.ismrm.org/winners.htm

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Who is eligible to serve on the Awards Committee and how are they selected?

The President of the Society appoints 10 of the 12 members of the Awards Committee. ISMRM Bylaws require that the committee be chaired by the Immediate Past President and include the current President as a member. Of the remaining 10 members, two (2) must be Gold Medal winners and four (4) must be Fellows of the Society. The other four (4) members are chosen from among the Full Members in good standing of the Society.

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What is the mission of the Society?

The purposes of the ISMRM are 

(A)       (i)         To promote communication, research, development, applications, and the availability of information
                        on magnetic resonance in medicine and biology and other related topics internationally;

(ii)        To develop and provide channels and facilities for continuing education and communication in the field, to publish and assist in the publishing of journals and other publications in the field; and

(iii)        To provide information and advice on those aspects of pubic policy which are concerned with magnetic resonance in medicine and biology and other related topics, and otherwise perform charitable, scientific, and educational functions with respect to magnetic resonance applications in medicine and biology and other related topics.

 (B)        To work with or for, and to co-operate with local, regional, and national governments and governmental and private agencies, organizations, firms, and institutions in efforts to accomplish one or more of the above purposes.

 (C)       To ensure that scientists and clinicians working in the field have equal and fair opportunities to contribute to it.

ISMRM is an international, interdisciplinary group united by a common interest n the science, technology and application of magnetic resonance in medicine and related fields. It represents basic and clinical scientists developing new magnetic resonance techniques and applications, clinicians with a strong interest in magnetic resonance science and applications, and technologists seeking to improve their understanding of magnetic resonance. The Society serves its membership directly as well as practitioners and their patients, regulatory and governmental agencies, and industry. The Society provides a forum for magnetic resonance science in medicine, fosters the development of new science and its application to health care, communicates new developments in magnetic resonance science, provides a range of educational opportunities, and promotes the field.

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What proportion of the members are clinical and what proportion are basic scientists/engineers?

 Of the voting members of the ISMRM, approximately 50% are clinicians and 50% are basic scientists/engineers.

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Because the ISMRM is a multi-disciplinary society, the Board of Trustees decided that it would serve our members’ needs more completely if the Society published one clinically oriented journal (JMRI) and one basic-science oriented journal (MRM).

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What is the ISMRM journals’ policy on publishing color?

2.  Student Membership

An individual enrolled full-time in an academic program that actively engages in the application of magnetic resonance in medicine and biology.  The applicant must submit one copy of his/her abbreviated curriculum vitae and a brief statement on letterhead signed by a department head/advisor which describes the training program, type of degree, field of study, and expected date of completion by the applicant.  Eligibility for student membership must be confirmed annually.

Sponsorship Requirements: Endorsement by one Full Member of the Society.

3.  Associate Membership

An individual residing in a financially restricted country, who has limited personal income.  The individual seeking membership must be involved in magnetic resonance or its applications through publication, education, manufacture, or practice.  The maximum annual income required for Associate Membership is the equivalent of US$10,000.  The currently defined list of countries whose nationals may qualify for Associate Membership is Bulgaria, China, India, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovak Republic, and Thailand. Other countries will be considered by the Board of Trustees on a case-by-case basis.  Associate Membership is only permitted following submission of a letter from the applicant, the employer, or a governmental authority verifying that the normal membership dues would constitute an excessive financial hardship.

Sponsorship Requirements: Endorsement by one Full Member of the Society.

4.  Honorary Membership

Honorary Membership may be conferred by invitation of the Board of Trustees upon the nomination of the Awards Committee of the Society.  It shall be awarded in recognition of major achievements in the field of magnetic resonance.  All Honorary Members shall also be treated as, and shall have all the rights and privileges (including voting and Membership sponsor rights) of Full Members;  however, they shall be exempt from Membership dues.

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The dues increase reflects both the increase in the cost of living since the last increase (1999), as well as the increase in the number of services provided to members of the Society. In addition, the number of student members has grown to represent 27% of the total membership of the Society. The increase in the number of student members, who pay $25 annual membership fees, has resulted in an increase in the cost of services to the membership. Because the members of the Society strongly support the inclusion of students in the ISMRM, it was felt that the fees for students should remain at $25 per year. The ISMRM continues to rely heavily on the financial support of its corporate members, who contribute an average of 20% of the total fiscal budget. 

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 Fifty percent of the regular membership dues are used to pay for the cost of subscriptions to one of the Society's journals. Over eleven percent of the regular membership dues go towards the cost of maintaining internet services for all members of the Society. The remainder of the fees go to ensuring membership services and to supporting the Society’s infrastructure, including the Board of Trustees and its standing committees.

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What are some of the important timelines and activities for the Scientific Program Committee?

The SPC begins planning an annual meeting approximately 18 months in advance of the meeting.  For example, planning for the May 2004 meeting in Kyoto began in January 2002 at the Program Construction meeting.  At this first meeting, the entire SPC discusses what plenary topics are to be pursued, a slate of potential morning educational programs is developed and the clinical categorical lectures to be undertaken during the week are first considered.  The SPC then meets at the annual meeting to review successes and opportunities for improvement based on the ongoing meeting.  The SPC also discusses in more detail the plenaries, the final roster of educational programs are selected and SPC members who are willing to be lead organizers for each plenary or course are confirmed.

Many of the meeting deadlines, like the abstract submission deadline are determined by working backwards from the date of the meeting.  Synopsis books need to be printed, CD's need to be created, and all have to be shipped to the meeting site.  Before these materials are made, each submission needs to be reviewed, and then scored by five independent referees.  At the program construction meeting (typically in January), the fate of each submission is determined, along with which session and which room (or poster location) it will be assigned.  All 4000 abstracts are accounted for in this two day dynamic meeting of the entire SPC.  Moderators for each session are selected and confirmed in the weeks after the program construction meeting and all this information then goes into the CD and synopsis book.  The abstract deadline for the 2004 Kyoto meeting is November 19, 2003.

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How can I get more involved in the SPC?

There are numerous ways to be more involved in the Annual Meeting process or the SPC in specific.  First, the ISMRM uses a process of self nomination for abstract referees.  You can appreciate that since every abstract needs five independent evaluations and we have typically around 3500 submissions, we are always looking for new people to review submissions to the meeting.  We prefer that you have published in ISMRM journals and have submitted and had abstracts accepted for the annual meeting previously.  If selected, you will be asked to review 40-80 submissions over a 10-day to two-week interval in early December.

 This year we are also instituting poster awards and will be looking for 25-50 ISMRM members to assist in the review of a limited number of pre-selected posters in 5 separate areas.  You will be asked to evaluate 10 posters (and their authors’ ability to interactively answer questions) in the areas of body MRI, neuroimaging, hardware, pulse sequences/reconstruction and spectroscopy.  If you are interested, please send an email to Duerk@uhrad.com

Finally, if you are interested in being an SPC member, you can send an email to the president elect of the ISMRM.  This person is responsible for all committee assignments and a challenging initial task is finding motivated and willing ISMRM members to serve on the various committees.

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How are the scope of the Scientific and Weekend Educational programs determined?  How do you avoid or minimize overlap?

First, the Chairs of the SPC and Education Committees serve ex-officio on the opposite committees.  Both chairs also work with the Meetings Coordination Committee to ensure that communication between these two committees is open and dynamic.  During the meeting planning, the SPC chair sends the Education Committee Chair the plenary and morning course proposals, including lists of speakers, etc.  The Education committee chair does the same.  This helps avoid duplication of talks as well as ensuring that new emerging leaders in the field are given a chance to contribute to the meeting.  Second, the Chairs painstakingly review evaluations of previous annual meetings and relevant workshops to identify emerging trends and techniques, to evaluate speakers, and to consider "freshness" of older program components.  Other material like journal submission statistics, and expert opinions are used in the needs assessment performed to create the annual meeting.

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I need a visa to enter United States to attend the ISMRM Scientific Meeting in Miami. How do I get one?

Information on visa requirements may be found at http://www.ismrm.org/05/visainfo.htm.  If you need further help, please contact the ISMRM Central Office.

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