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By Douglas C. Noll, Ph.D., 2019-2020 Annual Meeting Program Committee Chair
G’day!
The Annual Meeting is just over 6 months away and the planning process is going, well, “flat out like a lizard drinking!” which, I am told, means “things have been very busy!” in Australian!
Member Participation
First, I hope everyone has seen the Call for Abstracts (Deadline: 6 November 2019). But, there are many other opportunities to be engaged in during the annual meeting. Continuing with our Member-Initiated Symposia or MIS (Deadline: 13 October 2019). The MIS is a great way for members to craft a session on emerging areas, special interest topics, and any topic that you think would benefit the ISMRM attendees. We especially encourage the participation of trainees in helping to form these sessions. We also need members to participate in other ways, for example, please consider volunteering to help with Abstract Reviewing (Deadline: 12 October 2019) or volunteering to be a Moderator of a scientific session (20 December 2019). There are also activities related to trainees, such as the Junior Fellows Challenge related to sustainability in the MRI field (Deadline: 18 November 2019) and a call for MR Experts (20 December 2019), who will meet with new attendees at the Newbie Reception.
The Annual Meeting Is Taking Shape
As usual, the scientific program will be created from approximately 6,000 proffered abstracts and will include parallel oral sessions, expanded power pitch sessions, and large-format digital posters. This is the best place to see the latest MR innovations, discoveries, and prospects from our dedicated community.
The Vice-Program Chair, Nicole Seiberlich, PhD., has led in the formation of the educational program for this meeting. Now complete, the program covers a broad set of topics with over 200 hours of the program delivered by nearly 400 speakers. You will witness thousands of passionate attendees sharing information about sessions they have just completed. CME credit is available for most courses, and this year we are expanding our offerings of ABR-certified Self-Assessment Modules (SAMs).
The Annual Meeting also offers numerous other programs, including special ones for trainees in the “Resonarium” and trainee-organized scientific sessions. There are many designed for physician participation, including educational programs ranging from basic MRI physics to state-of-the-art methods. We will create clinical “walk-through-the-week” schedules that quickly identify educational and scientific sessions in several clinical subareas of MRI.
Our meeting isn’t just all work. We provide great networking opportunities for socializing and collaboration; we have an awesome scavenger hunt that our attendees enjoy playing on social media; and we welcome our first-time attendees (“newbies”) and help them navigate through our expansive meeting. This year, you can even meditate and do yoga in our Mindfulness Studio. For our parents with little ones, we always have resources available for support. The opening reception and closing party are always a hit, and no doubt it will be spectacular with dancing koalas and kangaroos! (Or at least we can imagine.)
I look forward to seeing you down under!
Douglas Noll, Ph.D.
ISMRM Program Chair 2019-2020
