ISMRM PASSES GAVEL TO NEW PRESIDENT PIA C. MALY SUNDGREN, M.D., PH.D., PARIS, FRANCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: ISMRM
Phone: 510-841-1899
Email: press@ismrm.org

ISMRM PASSES GAVEL TO NEW PRESIDENT PIA C. MALY SUNDGREN, M.D., PH.D., PARIS, FRANCE

CONCORD, CA, USA, July 2018 – The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) concluded its Joint Annual Meeting in Paris, France, with the passing of the presidential gavel 21 June 2018 from Daniel K. Sodickson, M.D., Ph.D., to Pia C. Maly Sundgren, M.D., Ph.D., current Professor of Radiology at Lund University, Sweden.  This annual ritual provides a fresh look and leadership role for its dedicated members.

“As the newly appointed president, I want to bring the feeling of being proud to be a member of ISMRM, a philanthropic and humanitarian society that works to improve quality of life and health to people across the globe. One of my goals is to increase the number of M.D.’s as full members.  They have helped to build a solid, collaborative foundation for ISMRM and are an important partner for our society. It is also very important for the mainstream public to have a better understanding of ISMRM and the value of MR.  Our members do astonishing work in MR and we must make this life-changing work more visible to the public.”  Dr. Sundgren said.

Will you continue the conversation of gender bias within the MR community?  “I want to see our work on unconscious bias progress, and we will establish guidelines to handle any form of harassment within the Society. This is a very important matter for the Society and I will certainly continue the discussion about gender bias as well as other unconscious bias within the ISMRM. I know there is a lot we can do regarding this topic. As mentioned in my closing remarks, an equality officer will be appointed as soon as possible to help the leadership set key performance measures and to support our efforts.

“I will, of course, continue to have a close collaboration both with the past president Dan Sodickson as well as with the vice president Larry Wald to ensure that what we have planned in the ISMRM strategic planning process and our new initiatives continue to be implemented. I will seek support and advice for new ideas from both the past and present leadership team to ensure the best outcome for the Society.”

Are there any future plans to encourage more women to enter the field?  Pia said, “We will continue to support women that enter the field. However, the problem, as I see, is not so much that women do not enter the field but rather they leave after they are done with their training. I think we need to find out more about the reason behind women leaving. We need a better understanding so we can find ways to better support and increase the engagement from the Society to maintain women in the field. ”

The Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB was held at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in Paris, France, with over 7,000 engaged attendees dedicated in the field of magnetic resonance participating.  The next ISMRM Annual Meeting will be held 11-16 May 2019 in Montréal, QC, Canada.

Download a PDF of this Press Release