By Nancy Hill Beluk, R.T.(R), 2020-2021 SMRT President
The first-ever ISMRM/SMRT Virtual Conference 2020 is in the books, and I am happy to report it was a huge success. But don’t take my word for it; let’s have a look at the numbers:
- Over 400 SMRT registrants
- 39 live Q&A/panel discussion sessions, with 4832 registrants for these live events
- International clinical sessions representing 9 countries
- Multilingual events incorporating 6 different languages
One of the joys of the Annual Meeting, as you know, is reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. Getting the opportunity to hear their stories, share a meal, network, and join together for a laugh or two in an environment of camaraderie and learning is, in my opinion, the best medicine. There was trepidation this year that when changing from an in-person meeting to a virtual conference, we would lose that atmosphere, but we did not! We met, we learned, we talked, and we laughed (many times at my expense)! Yes, it was different, yet I came away feeling connections had been made. For example, I met Cristian Montalba, from Santiago, Chile, who was attending his fifth Annual Meeting. We talked, we laughed, and I believe, I ended up giving him a nickname by the end of the week. Please click here to read more from Cristian in his own words.
I also met Liana Sanches, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who was attending her eighth Annual Meeting. Please click here to read more from Liana in her own words. These are connections, old and new, that can’t be broken by time and distance.
But now it is time to set our sights forward to the rest of the year and the start of 2021. We encourage you to stay involved and take advantage of all the SMRT has to offer, such as three National Chapters, 18 Divisions (and growing), year-round virtual meetings, and an ever-growing online learning center all designed with our membership in mind. We are committed to advancing global education in the field of magnetic resonance for radiographers and technologists and growing as one community.
BREAKING NEWS: The Abstract Committee is happy to announce that the deadline for submissions has been extended to 16 December 2020, providing us extra time to pull together our data and submit in time for the Annual Meeting in Vancouver scheduled for May 2021. Erin Gray and her team have been working in the background to adapt to the new MIRA system for abstract submissions—a platform that provides our members the ability to submit a digital poster without the need for a printed version.
Please click here to read more from Erin in her own words.
Onward and Upward,
Nancy
I am a medical technologist from Santiago, Chile. I work as a research assistant with other professionals from biomedical engineering and healthcare fields. What do I love from my work? Getting involved in multiple tasks and research projects by acquiring and processing images. I have been a member of the ISMRM and have attended their conferences since 2016. What do I like the most from this society? I have the chance to interact with people from different countries and share different knowledge and points of view from different professionals who are involved with MRI.
Greetings to the SMRT Members and Community!
I became an SMRT member back in 2013—not a long time, but the experiences I’ve already had were amazing. I have attended five meetings since then. I was adopted by the SMRT family: a Brazilian standing alone beside her poster for a few minutes only! And because of that, I felt comfortable in participating in some committees, trying to find a way to help the community and help my fellows in Brazil as well. In 2020, I actively participated as the SMRT representative in the Diffusion Study Group (where I got to chat with the people who wrote the papers I used in my Ph.D. thesis. Legends. OMG!). Meeting my colleagues in person in Sydney was planned as part of a year of work, but after the pandemic started, the meeting moved to the virtual model. My participation in previous committees gave me the courage to volunteer as a moderator in parallel sessions of the annual meeting. In these two parallel sessions, SMRT members would discuss interesting things about their work and study lives. Much more than that: they would inspire others as I was (and still am) one day. Well, the organizers said “yes,” and then I became nervous and anxious, not that sure that I could handle the responsibility, especially in a language that’s not mine. But thanks to the patience of the organizing committee and Kirsty Campbell, everything ran amazingly well! And as a (great) family, the reception of all participants couldn´t make me feel better! Yes, I missed the face-to-face; a family that reunites once a year had to split this year. But it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t interact, learn, help, and participate. A lot of things will change, but I admit: can´t wait to see my family in 2021.