Singapore 2024: Connecting the World of MR

Singapore 2024: Connecting the World of MR

I am honored and grateful to serve as Program Chair for the 2024 Annual Meeting in Singapore, with the theme: Connecting the World of MR. ISMRM is a global society representing interests of many regions and research areas, with both clinicians and scientists; embracing the diversity of our membership increases the impact we have and fosters a more inclusive and connected culture for our membership. In these monthly blog posts, I will focus on ways the 2024 meeting will promote connection, as well as offer insights into how the incredible members of the Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC) are working hard to bring you the meeting. I am privileged to lead the AMPC together with Kei Yamada, M.D., Ph.D., from Kyoto Prefectural University, Japan, who will serve as AMPC Vice-Chair and Education Chair for Singapore. We will build on great ideas of past AMPC chairs (some born out of the pandemic experiences and others that were partially lost) and continue to be mindful of global challenges in both our work and the meeting.

ISMRM Challenges: The abstract deadline is just 4 months away, so it is already time to get busy! In London, Steven Sourbron (2022 Program Chair) and Niv Agarwal (2023 Program Chairs), reintroduced ISMRM Challenges, and for 2024, we offer two Challenges: Repeat It with Me: Reproducibility Team Challenge and Clinical Translation: Unmet Needs.

The 2023 Repeat It with Me: Reproducibility Team Challenge aimed to raise awareness of the importance of reproducible science and fostered new collaboration among labs by reproducing ISMRM abstracts. Comments included: “Everyone should go through the process at least once to understand what is required to reproduce their results” and “The experience gained through this challenge will guide further refinement of parameters and the eventual adoption of the technique in future studies.” In the spirit of reproducibility(!), we will repeat this Challenge in 2024 (Details here).

New for 2024, the Clinical Translation: Unmet Needs Challenge aims to enhance communication between clinicians and research scientists to generate impactful solutions. First, members (primarily MD members) identify and submit unmet clinical needs by August 4, with a specific scope and success metrics. We will select and refine unmet needs and post them in August for both clinician and non-clinician members to respond with proof-of-concept solutions as abstracts (or late-breaking abstracts in February 2024), with the best entries presented in Singapore. (Details here).

Since you’ll be hearing from me regularly, here’s a little about my background: I was born in Zimbabwe, Africa, so was thrilled to meet numerous members from Africa at the 2023 meeting. I grew up in Vancouver, Canada, where I attended my first ISMRM meeting in 1997. I trained at Stanford University in California, USA, where I continue to work on MR sequences and translation for breast, body, musculoskeletal, and pediatric applications. My wife works on nasal medical devices, and we have two children: a 12 year-old gymnast and a 10-year old Star Wars fan who reminds us to remember the Singapore meeting will start on May-the-Fourth (be with you!).

I believe the ISMRM meeting is everyone’s meeting, and it continues to evolve! We have posted a short survey for your feedback from the Toronto meeting; the creativity of our members is unmatched, and we will carefully consider whatever is possible. Next month, we will update you with the 2024 Clinical Focus Meeting and other plans for 2024!

Brian Hargreaves, Ph.D.
2024 Annual Meeting Program Chair