Year after year, the Michigan Radiological Society is recognized as one of the most successful chapters of the American College of Radiology and the reason is its dedication to the pillars of education, research, quality and safety, economics and political advocacy. It is assuring to know that no less than 16 former presidents are active in the Society and the current officers, board of directors and committee members are working hard to continue the forward momentum of the Society. It certainly is an honor for me to serve as President during this upcoming term!
Plan to attend the September MRS meeting in Lansing. This meeting will be comprised of a legislative and educational session. Our lobbyist Jim Cavanagh will set up meetings with various legislators – last year this offered us a great opportunity to influence key issues such as the Advanced Care Practioner and Breast Density bills but with the upcoming election this year will be especially important. Prior to the social hour, we will have 2 simultaneous sessions “Interesting Case Conference” (bring difficult or interesting cases for advice or teaching or just sit back and enjoy) and a small group workshop with our keynote speaker, Dr. Ella Kazerooni. The evening will finish with her lecture on Low Dose CT Lung Cancer Screening. Dr. Ella Kazerooni is a nationally renowned expert. Since the United States Preventative Task Force designated this as a legitimate screening test, it will be covered under the Affordable Care Act in a few months. As such, this will be a very timely topic.
Other dates to keep in mind include the October Breast Imaging Conference in Plymouth, the November Young and Early Career Physicians CME lecture in Novi, the March Hickey Lecture in Plymouth, and the May Gold Medal Lecture in Grand Rapids. We are hoping to introduce each lecture with a brief address by a state or federal politician. Parallel diagnostic, therapeutic and physics lectures will occur at several of the educational meetings. These sessions are becoming crucial venues for radiologists, radiation oncologists and physicists to dialogue on rapidly evolving issues in our profession.
This year the MRS will focus on increasing membership, chapter engagement and political advocacy. Every radiologist, radiation therapist and medical physicist should be a member of the MRS – the MRS provides a unifying voice for the profession and with more members comes greater strength. Participation in MRS activities has been waning but we cannot let this happen – meetings allow interchange of ideas, foster camaraderie and promote unity, which are very important. Medicine and especially radiology are legislative targets more than ever – whether you like it or not, we are embroiled in the political sphere and we must be willing to be involved and exert our influence.
Radiology and health care are facing some very difficult tasks. More than ever, we need to protect our practices and profession. The MRS and ACR provide us the tools to do this but we must ALL be involved – let’s work together and make a difference!