RSNA Announces International Visiting Professor Teams
The RSNA Board of Directors has announced teams for the International Visiting Professors (IVP) program for 2009. The professors and their destinations are:
Florida Hospital, Orlando, Fla.
Estonia
Mexico
(In cooperation with the Federación Mexicana
de Radiología e Imagen A.C. [FMRI])
South Africa
For more information about the IVP Program, go to RSNA.org/International/CIRE/ivpp.cfm. An article about the 2008 IVP teams that traveled to China will appear in the February 2009 issue of RSNA News.
RSNA Annual Meeting Honored for Economic Impact
Publication Tradeshow Week recently gave the RSNA annual meeting its top prize for impact on the local economy.
In its award application, RSNA noted that annual meeting attendees have a significant impact on the local economy, staying in hotels, dining in area restaurants and shopping and touring the city during their stay. Estimated spending by RSNA 2007 registrants totaled $128 million, more than any other Chicago meeting in the Top 10 as ranked by attendance and almost $15 million more than its closest competitor. Figures come from the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.
The latest economic impact figure represents an increase over RSNA 2006, where spending by registrants totaled $115.5 million.
Earlier this year, Tradeshow Week ranked the RSNA annual meeting as the 33rd largest tradeshow of 2007 (as measured by net square feet of exhibit space) and the highest-ranked healthcare-related meeting. It was the highest RSNA has ever ranked on the list.
RSNA Launches Search for New Executive Director
RSNA has retained the services of Korn/Ferry International to assist in the recruitment of a new executive director. To view the job description and apply, visit www.ekornferry.com, click "opportunities" and enter the code re575. At the bottom of the position description, select "click here to be considered for this opportunity."
This is a confidential Web site. Only Korn/Ferry consultants and the RSNA Search Committee will have access to resume information submitted. For answers to questions about the search or to nominate a potential candidate, contact rsna@kornferry.com.
New Training Methods Examined in AAPM Report
Mechanisms for providing the necessary training and experience to become a qualified medical physicist are outlined in a new American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) report, "Alternative Clinical Training Pathways for Medical Physicists."
The task group writing the report was chaired by Michael G. Herman, Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He and his colleagues note that 200 to 400 qualified clinical medical physicists are needed in the workforce annually and available residency capacity makes it impossible to meet the need through residency programs only.
"The training and experience requirements for most non–physician professionals involved in radiologic imaging or radiation therapy, including medical physicists, are being standardized at the national level in Congressional bills," Dr. Herman and colleagues write. "It is incumbent upon us to provide the mechanisms to be certain that medical physicists are properly trained."
The report is available at www.aapm.org/pubs/reports/RPT_133.pdf.
Developers of Physics Education Modules Named
RSNA and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) have selected the developers of 50 Web-based instructional modules detailing the basic science underlying imaging. Each module is being developed by a team led by a physicist and including at least one radiologist.
The modules will be produced in two phases—phase 1 is under way and includes modules on radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, CT, ultrasound, MR imaging, nuclear medicine and radiation biology. The modules are designed to improve the basic science education of radiology residents and will also benefit practicing radiologists, particularly those participating in the American Board of Radiology's Maintenance of Certification program.
