Dear MRS Members,

I am excited and honored to be elected President of the Michigan Radiological Society (MRS) for the 2024-2025 term. First, I would like to extend my congratulations to our past president, Walt Sahijdak, MD, FACR, for a successful year of leadership. I am the 104th President of MRS and humbled to join this elite group of radiology pioneers. It is truly an honor to serve in this capacity for the MRS. My aim is to continue the MRS advocacy on scope of practice issues at the state level, continue the www.MiRadiologists.com campaign and hope to strengthen our members relationships closer together with increased in-person meetings.

I would like to thank the Executive Committee for their commitment and dedication in the past and the year to come: President-Elect Andrew Woodrow, M.D.; Vice President Evita Singh, M.D.; Secretary Shadi Azar, M.D. and Treasurer Leah Davis, D.O. Additionally, Dr. Sahijdak, Dr. Mark Weiss and Ralph Lieto, M.S., as immediate past presidents, which I plan to rely on heavily for guidance in the year to come. Thanks to the Board of Trustees of the MRS which will continue to provide their support and guidance. Together, we will work towards advancing the interests of all our members. Turning to the MRS and how it provides continuing value to members, our society remains focused on the following: advocacy for members with government and payors, educational initiatives, and the support at the grassroots for the future growth and prosperity of our specialty.

At the ACR annual national meeting in April 2024, the MRS had a great presence with over 30 members present. We had the opportunity to discuss many issues pertaining to radiology with colleagues from across the country. We continue to face challenges with reimbursement cuts, the commoditization of radiology, non-radiologist physicians performing imaging and imaging based procedure, and now nonphysician providers wanting exclusive autonomous practice rights which all present significant challenges. In addition, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is marching forward, and many radiologists question its role in their practices. To help our members decipher AIrtifical Intelligence (AI), we are starting an AI committee headed by Richard Brown, M.D. to keep our members informed on AI opportunities and more. At the annual meeting, we had 13 MRS members receive fellowships, congratulations to all of you: Riffat Ahmed, M.D., Brian Berger, M.D., Evan Boote, P.h.D, David Fry, M.D., Aparna Joshi, M.D., John Kalabat,, Christopher Kazmierczak, , Danny Ma, , Sabala Mandava, , Katharine Maturen, M.D., M.S., Harvey Yee, M.D.

Education remains a cornerstone of the MRS. Our biennial Breast Imaging Conference is scheduled for November 9th and 10th at the Sheraton Novi. Our 86th Annual Preston M. Hickey Memorial Lecture featured another exceptional speaker in May 2024, Dr. Lauren Nicola, ACR advisor to the AMA-RUC (Relative Value Scale Update Committee) and member of the ACR Board of Chancellors. She spoke on challenges in reimbursement and MACRA quality measures in reporting for 2024 and 2025. At the 2023 Annual Meeting in Lansing, we were privileged to hear Dr. Alan Matsumodo’s thoughts and recommendations on how to protect the future of radiology.

MRS needs to remain focused on and support our committees dedicated to future of our profession; these include: the Resident & Fellow Section, the Medical Students, and the Committee for Young/Early Career Physicians. Each of these groups work in concert with the Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to make radiology’s future successful. I urge MRS members if not already involved to reach out and consider volunteering and contributing to these groups. This is a great way to advocate for our specialty and offers the means for us to contribute at the level of our organization to ensure the growth of radiology’s future.

I look forward to collaborating with all of you this year during my term as president. Please reach out to me or any member of the executive committee if there are any questions/issues or new ideas on how to make MRS better. Finally, I want to challenge every member to actively promote, advocate, and advance Radiology at every chance possible. I wish you a great year and hope to see you at the September mixer, Breast Conference, ACR annual meeting and the Hickey Lecture.

Respectfully your President,
Rocky Saenz, D.O.