McLoud is 2008 RSNA President

Thoracic radiology pioneer and global education advocate Theresa C. McLoud, M.D., is RSNA president for 2008.

Theresa C. McLoud, M.D.

Dr. McLoud is associate radiologist-in-chief and director of education for the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. An RSNA member since 1979, she began her term on the RSNA Board of Directors in 2001 and was Board chair in 2006. Dr. McLoud chaired the Scientific Program Committee in 1998.

A world-renowned thoracic imaging expert, Dr. McLoud has conducted more than 150 postgraduate courses and has published more than 200 scientific papers, reviews and book chapters. In 1998, she published Thoracic Radiology: The Requisites, a popular, comprehensive and invaluable introductory text for residents beginning in thoracic imaging and preparing for the board examination.

Dr. McLoud’s research in interstitial lung disease, CT of the thorax, lung cancer imaging and occupational lung disease has taken her around the world to conduct postgraduate teaching and lectures. Her achievements have earned her honorary memberships in the Chilean Society of Respiratory Diseases and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists.

Dr. McLoud currently serves on the advisory committee for the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute. She also served seven years on the Mine Health Research Advisory Committee of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. She is past-president of the Fleischner Society, Society of Thoracic Radiology and American Roentgen Ray Society.

Becker is RSNA President-Elect

Gary J. Becker, M.D., is RSNA president-elect for 2008.

Gary J. Becker, M.D.

Currently a professor in vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Dr. Becker also became executive director of the American Board of Radiology (ABR) earlier this month.

An RSNA member since 1979, Dr. Becker began his Society leadership with an appointment to the Refresher Course Committee, followed by service to the Public Information Advisory Board (now the Public Information Advisors Network) and Planning Committee for the Office of Research Development. He served on various research development committees and was on the RSNA Research & Education Foundation’s Distinguished Roster of Grant Reviewers from 1994 to 1998. He was elected to the RSNA Board of Directors in 2001, served as the liaison for science and was Board chair in 2007.

He was elected to the ABR Board of Trustees in 2000 and since 2006 had served as the associate executive director for diagnostic radiology and subspecialties.

Dr. Becker began his career at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he was ultimately a professor of radiology and chief of the vascular section. Dr. Becker served as director of interventional radiology, assistant medical director and medical director of research and outcomes at the Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute of Miami and was branch chief of image-guided intervention in the Cancer Imaging Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) before relocating to Arizona.

Dr. Becker was founding editor of the Journal of Vascular & Interventional Radiology and was its editor-in-chief from 1990 to 1995.

Hricak Becomes RSNA Board Chair

Hedvig Hricak, M.D., Ph.D., has been named chair of the RSNA Board of Directors.

Hedvig Hricak, M.D., Ph.D.

Chair of the Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Dr. Hricak is also a professor of radiology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and an attending radiologist at Memorial Hospital in New York.

Dr. Hricak began her academic appointments in 1979 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. At the University of California, San Francisco, from 1982 to 2000, she served as a professor of radiology, urology, radiation oncology, obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, as well as chief of the uroradiology and abdominal imaging sections.

An RSNA member since 1978 and a member of the RSNA Board of Directors since 2002, Dr. Hricak has served as liaison for publications and communications. Prior to her Board appointment, she chaired the RSNA Public Information Advisory Board (now the Public Information Advisors Network) and also served other RSNA public information committees.

From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Hricak was a consultant to the editor of Radiology. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and serves on the National Cancer Institute’s Board of Scientific Advisors. She is director of a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research study on the use of MR imaging and MR spectroscopy for risk assessment in patients with prostate cancer. She also directs an NIH-funded international training program in molecular imaging for oncology.

Arenson is New RSNA Board Member

Ronald L. Arenson, M.D.

Ronald L. Arenson, M.D., has been an RSNA member since 1973 and is a longtime RSNA volunteer. He will serve as the liaison-designate for the annual meeting and technology, working with Burton P. Drayer, M.D., for one year until Dr. Drayer becomes the RSNA Board chairman and Dr. Arenson assumes the role of liaison.

Dr. Arenson was the RSNA second vice-president in 2006, chaired the Electronic Communications Committee (now the Radiology Informatics Committee) and has worked on several other committees including the Publications Council, Task Force on Intellectual Property, Research Development Committee and the Public Information Advisors Network.

As chair and the Alexander R. Margulis Distinguished Professor of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a position he’s held for the last 15 years, Dr. Arenson is responsible for radiology at four institutions—the main UCSF campus, San Francisco General Hospital, the Veterans Administration Medical Center and Mt. Zion Hospital. He has also served as president of the medical staff at UCSF.

Dr. Arenson served in the U.S. Navy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He is an avid lecturer, course instructor and researcher, especially in the areas of radiology information systems and picture archiving and communication systems. He is currently president of the International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology and the Association of University Radiologists.

SNIS is New Name for ASITN

The American Society of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (ASITN) has changed its name to the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS). Formed in 1992, the organization promotes excellence in patient care and provides education and supports research in neurointerventional surgical procedures and practice. SNIS counts interventional neuroradiologists, interventional neurologists and endovascular neurosurgeons among its members.

FDA Tightens Advisory Committee Procedures

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced several steps to strengthen its advisory committee processes. Included are new procedures for advisory committee voting, disclosing information on conflicts of interest and security and appropriate conduct for participants at meetings.

Other improvements include greater clarity to FDA’s advisory committee Web site, found at www.fda.gov/oc/advisory/default.htm.

IHE® to Form Non-Profit Corporation

The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE®) initiative has established IHE International, an association made up of many member organizations. The IHE International Board will take the necessary legal steps to form a non-profit corporation by March. IHE International was formed through adoption of the IHE Principles of Governance last October.

The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE®) initiative has established IHE International, an association made up of many member organizations. The IHE International Board will take the necessary legal steps to form a non-profit corporation by March. IHE International was formed through adoption of the IHE Principles of Governance last October.

In its ninth year, IHE is a global initiative that brings together health information technology stakeholders to implement standards for communicating patient information—from application to application, system to system, and setting to setting—across multiple healthcare enterprises.

RSNA was instrumental in the development of IHE International and is represented on the board of directors by David S. Mendelson, M.D.

IHE International is accepting applications for member organizations. More information is available at www.ihe.net/governance.

$1.28 Billion Molecular Imaging Collaboration Formed in Germany

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research has joined with German industrial partners to set aside €900 million, or $1.28 billion, to develop new technologies for the molecular imaging field.

Commercial partners Bayer-Schering Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carl Zeiss, Karl Storz and Siemens have pledged €750 million on top of the government’s €150 million to develop new contrast media, devices and software through a 6-year collaboration called Innovation Alliance Molecular Imaging.

DBEPS Now Part of NIBIB

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has integrated the Division of Bioengineering and Physical Science (DBEPS), formerly part of the NIH Office of Research Services, into the NIBIB Intramural Research Program. The integration brings 26 staff members, along with equipment and more than 14,000 square feet of laboratory space. Their research areas include new approaches for determining 3D cellular structure, measuring interactions between macromolecules, modeling drug delivery and performing nanoscale diagnostics.

NIBIB Scientific Director Richard D. Lapman, Ph.D., said incorporating DBEPS into NIBIB provides an ideal setting for the new trans-NIH initiative "Imaging Molecules to Cells."

ABR Seeks Feedback on New Exam Format

The American Board of Radiology (ABR) invites people to provide their thoughts on changes to the board exam format by visiting www.theabr.org/News_ExamOfFuture.htm. Comments received by January 31 will be considered by the ABR trustees at their meeting in February.

ABR announced late last year that it is changing its oral board certification in diagnostic radiology to a computer-based and image-rich examination administered 15 months after residency completion. Also included will be an image-rich, computer-based radiology core exam to be given approximately 30 months after the beginning of radiology residency training.

ABR representatives said deliberations over the exam format began nearly five years ago, amid rapid changes in diagnostic radiology and increasing emphasis on lifelong learning and professional development in ABR’s maintenance of certification (MOC) program.

The change does not affect residents currently in training. Depending on when the new test is ready, residents beginning their training in the next two to four years can expect to see the changes.