Message from 2005 Program Chair, Vivian Lee, M.D., Ph.D. Dear Colleagues, In May 2005, the ISMRM annual meeting will be held in South Beach, Miami, Florida, USA.  The attractive setting makes it even more imperative that the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) come up with a spectacular scientific program to rival it!  To this end, we have been hard at work. For the plenary sessions, we are extremely fortunate that we will have Dr. Britton Chance, University of Pennsylvania, speaking as our Lauterbur lecturer on Monday, 9 May,  and Dr. Jürgen Hennig, University of Freiburg, speaking as our Mansfield lecturer on Thursday, 12 May .  The initial plenary session, following Dr. Chance’s presentation on Monday, will focus on the theme of MR in a Multidisciplinary World, particularly in neuropsychiatric, cancer, and cardiac applications, where alternative techniques to MR play important complementary, and sometime competitive, roles.  For the remainder of the week, the theme of the plenary sessions will be “MR at Different Scales," where the focus will move from the level of chemicals (Tuesday) to cells (Wednesday), to organs (Thursday), and finally, to whole body imaging (Friday), signifying the impressive span of MR application. Several of the initiatives launched in recent years will be adopted more fully in Miami, including video capture of scientific sessions (when approved by speakers) that will be available on the web to registered attendees and electronic posters that will enable presenters at the meeting to display dynamic video formats. The Miami Beach meeting will also debut a initiative of the SPC, a week-long  course in clinical MRI that is targeted toward radiologists, trainees and technologists called Clinical MRI: From Principles to Practice. The aim of this program is to provide an intensive one week educational and scientific program in MRI, taught by some of the world’s best teachers in MR.  The program starts with a new educational program on Saturday, Clinical MRI: From Physical Principles to Practical Protocols, which will provide an introduction to physical principles of MR with a view toward understanding routine clinical protocols on a system-by-system basis. On Sunday, attendees will have a choice of day-long educational programs to choose from (including musculoskeletal MR, advanced Body MR, cardiac MR, among others).  Then throughout the week, in parallel with the scientific sessions, educational and clinical science programs will provide the clinically-oriented attendee with a chance to review clinical material through focused problem-solving didactic sessions and hands-on workshops.  By attending this course, attendees will be taught practical clinical MRI by some of most experienced MR clinician scientists in the field, while also learning about the latest scientific advances being made in this rapidly changing modality.  Program details can be viewed by accessing the link above. The SPC is extremely excited about the meeting in Miami.  As always, we welcome your input.  Please email us with your ideas and comments and keep checking this website for updates on the program.  Vivian S. Lee, M.D., Ph.D. Chair, Scientific Program Committee