Welcome Letter from Jim Stuppino, 2016-2017 SMRT President
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to join us at the 26th Annual Meeting, 22-24 April, 2017 on the beautiful island of Honolulu, Hawai’i, USA at the Hawai’i Convention Center. This year for the first time we will be offering an option for a 3 Day meeting. Yes, that’s right, 3 full days of world class education and what does that mean for you… More time to spend networking with friends, both new and old; more access to exceptional education from the SMRT & ISMRM and more time to spend on the beautiful island of Oahu. It also means an extra day of meeting with our fantastic sponsors in the exhibit hall. Multiple options for registration will be available this year.
Our Program Chair, Shawna Farquharson and her committee have been hard at work developing an extraordinary program. The planning is still in the works but I can share with you some of the highlights. This year we have a special Key Note Speaker presenting on MRI – From the Past to the Present World of MRI Fingerprinting. Other planned lectures include Pediatric Cardiac MRI, 2D vs. 4D Flow, DWI, fMRI to name a few. We also plan to continue the Parallel Sessions and this year the Program Committee plans on offering a Management and a Basic Imaging Track. Streaming Video will again this year allow radiographers and technologists the opportunity to sit in the comfort of their own home or enjoy getting together with other colleagues to watch the Annual Meeting live. It will also give them the chance to participate in the meeting as if they were actually there including the ability to ask questions of the speakers and chat live with others taking part in the live stream. This year registration options will be available for the entire meeting, single days, and morning and afternoon session blocks. As always we look forward to seeing everyone at our poster walking tour on Friday evening and our welcome reception on Saturday evening.
The SMRT Travel Scholarship is a program to assist radiographers and technologists to attend the SMRT Annual Meeting. Scholarships of up to $1,000 will be provided by the SMRT through a philanthropic donation from the ISMRM Research and Education Fund. The application is now available on the website.
We hope you will join us at the SMRT Business Meeting to learn more about the fantastic changes we have made this past year and even more things to come in the following year. It also gives you an opportunity to meet the members of the Policy Board and get answers to any questions you may have. I look forward to seeing everyone in Hawai’i.
James J. Stuppino, B.S., R.T. (R)(MR)
SMRT President 2016-2017