President's Message

Julia Lowe, B.S., R.T.,(R)(MR)  

The SMRT leadership has been busy since the Annual Meeting that was held in Stockholm, Sweden in May, 2010. One of the most important duties of the leadership is attending the SMRT Policy Board meeting that convened by teleconference on 22 November, 2010. Policy Board Members reviewed reports from committee chairs and discussed current projects. Outstanding issues from the Stockholm Policy Board Meeting were reviewed and successfully resolved and we were able to move forward. The Program planned for the 20th SMRT Annual Meeting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in May, 2011 has been finalized and we are all looking forward to meeting face to face for our next Policy Board Meeting.

Julia Lowe, SMRT President, traveled to Chicago, Illinois, USA to attend the Radiologic Society of North America (RSNA) 96th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. The ISMRM Board of Trustees met on Sunday, 28 November 2010 and as a member of the ISMRM Board the SMRT President attends to present the Affiliated Sections report. This report is bi-annual and is a review of the SMRT Policy Board and Executive Committees’ activities, the progress made by standing committees, the SMRT membership and financial status and a report on the Annual Meeting. By attending the Board of Trustees meeting the SMRT President has the opportunity to formally meet with the leadership of the ISMRM, to gain insight of the direction of that leadership and to affirm the goals of the SMRT as a section of that society.

The SMRT is a member of the Associated Sciences Consortium of RSNA and staffs a booth each year during the RSNA meeting. Policy Board Members that volunteered to work in the booth this year were Colleen Hammond, Julia Lowe, Vera Miller, Mercedes Pereyra, and Charles Stanley with the help of Jerusha Rich from the ISMRM. The Associated Sciences booths are grouped together and many technologists/radiographers, educators and physicians are drawn to these booths for educational opportunities for themselves, co-workers, or their students. While staffing the booth we spoke with many students that were very interested in what the SMRT has to offer them such as the “JAK Award for Professional Development.” This opportunity is offered to both students and new MR Professionals and details are available on our website. Other attendees were interested in viewing the hardcopies of the Educational Seminar Home Studies and taking with them a hardcopy of the Signals, Special Issue Year in Review which was well received.

I was able to thank some of our vendors that have supported the SMRT North American Regional Educational Seminars in the past and some that plan to support the upcoming Annual Meeting in Montreal. I visited the booths of Avotec Inc., Bracco, Hitachi Medical Systems, Invivo (Philips Medical Systems), Kopp Development Inc., Lantheus Medical Imaging, Toshiba America Medical Systems, and West Physics. The SMRT would especially like to thank John Wilkie of Invivo (Philips Medical Systems) for the continued support of the Educational Seminar Home Studies. We thank all of our vendors for their donations and acknowledge that such quality educational programs would not be possible without their enthusiastic support.

Charles Stanley, External Relations Co-Chair and SMRT President-Elect, and Julia Lowe, SMRT President, were invited to attend the Alliance for Quality Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Meeting that was held during RSNA. The Alliance is a coalition of 25 allied health organizations in the US dedicated to the provision of safe, high quality medical imaging and radiation therapy that support the CARE bill and routinely meet to discuss the progress of the bill in Congress. External Relations Co-Chair, Charles Stanley will be providing a more detailed report. Charles and Julia also enjoyed speaking to the leadership of the Society of Nuclear Medicine-Technologists Section (SNM-TS) and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) while participating in the Alliance meeting.

The people that we meet during RSNA as representatives of the SMRT help us to reach our objectives; advancing education and training, promoting world-wide communication of information related to MRI. It is our mission as the leadership of the SMRT to think of new ways to establish a forum to continue this communication. I look forward to the people I have not yet met and understand that keeping an open mind will provide new opportunities for the SMRT.

Best Regards and a Happy New Year,

Julia Lowe,
SMRT President