Chapter Chat

The Annual Meeting of the ANZ Chapter left Australian shores for the first time for the City of Sails; Auckland, New Zealand. 175 radiographers from Australia and New Zealand attended the two day meeting held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The meeting format had a wide range of interesting and informative topics. Delegates enjoyed attending a variety of presentations on practical and evolving issues in MR safety, neuro imaging, musculoskeletal, body, vascular, cardiac and paediatric MR. An outstanding national and local faculty were joined by our invited international keynote speakers Professor Winfried Willinek from the University of Bonn, Germany and Tobias Gilk of Mednovus, USA.

Professor Willinek, Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of MRI at the University of Bonn gave three excellent presentations on the popular and emerging areas of Liver MRI, Time Resolved MRA and Extracranial DWI.

Tobias Gilk, President & MRI Safety Director of Mednovus USA spoke on MR Site Design and its impact to MR practice. He also spoke on MR Spatial Gradients, a hot topic in the region.

Posters and proffered papers were included in the program showcasing the high quality of both clinical and research MR in Australia and New Zealand. The First Prize Award for Best Proffered Paper went to Megan Cromer for her work on “Accuracy of quantification of Porcine Knee Cartilage by 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. Congratulations to all the radiographers who either presented a paper or submitted a poster. We hope we can continue to build on the number of entries for future meetings as this format is a great way for MR radiographers to present their work.

The Saturday night function was held on Auckland’s beautiful harbour, at the Floating Pavilion. Delegates had a chance to relax with their colleagues from ANZ and make new acquaintances.

Organising a meeting of this size and calibre requires considerable hard work and effort. It is important to acknowledge the contributions of local co-chairs Anna-Maria Lydon and Desiree Mulders, and the ANZ Executive Committee of Ben Kennedy, Glenn Cahoon, Michael Macilquham, Kirsten Moffat and Wendy Strugnell. Many thanks also to the team of local MR radiographers who helped with on-site registration, chairing sessions and other administrative tasks. Of course, this meeting would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors. In particular we would like to thank our platinum sponsors, Philips Healthcare and Siemens Healthcare.

The ANZ Chapter executive has been working hard to increase the value of the meeting for all registrants and SMRT members. As a new initiative, this year, the entire ANZ Chapter meeting was recorded for delegates to review on-line. The full meeting recording and pdf syllabus can be viewed at www.ismrm.org/smrt/chapters/ANZ/ANZ10.htm. 

Planning for the 2011 meeting is well underway and will be held in Brisbane, Australia on 13-14th August 2011. Mark your calendars for what promises to be another great ANZ Chapter meeting. Meeting information and updates can be found at www.ismrm.org/smrt/chapters/anz.htm

The delegates enjoying a break

Keynote Speakers at the Floating Pavilion Left to right Professor Winfried Willinek and Tobias Gilk

Keynote Speakers Prof Winfried Willinek and Tobias Gilk with ANZ Chapter President Kirsten Moffat
 

Proffered Paper Presenters (left to right Nicole Welsh, Sally Agnew and 1st Prize Winner Megan Cromer)
 

Program Co-Chairs Desiree Mulders and Anna-Maria Lydon with ANZ Chapter President Kirsten Moffat.