President's Message

Greetings!

It’s truly amazing to look around at the vibrant colors that the New England landscape creates each September and October- the scenery almost makes my daily long commute worth it. Fall means the SRU annual meeting, of course, and I hope many of you will be joining us in Washington DC for what is shaping up to be another outstanding program of education and research advances. 

The Program Committee has put together an exciting lineup. The plenary session will feature Dr. Scott Young from Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, on the Sonography of Endometriosis. Dr. Shuchi Rodgers from Thomas Jefferson, NJ will provide an update on the latest SRU consensus conference, a Lexicon for First Trimester Obstetrics. We will hear from last year’s SRU Foundation research grant winners about their ongoing projects, and round out the morning with “Sonopardy”, a don’t miss event. Case of the day is returning thanks to the Education Committee efforts, and there might just be prizes this year! The Research committee received a large number of scientific abstract submissions for our first research track on Saturday morning, and the presenters have been selected. With the all-oral format, we’ll recreate the atmosphere of in-person Radiology meetings from wpast experts in the audience providing great feedback and encouragement to the presenters. This is our chance to encourage trainees and early career sonologists to join us in expanding the presence and role and excellence of ultrasound. 

Each of the SRU committees has been working hard for the Society, and I’m grateful for their efforts. One result that you may notice soon- the Website committee is working with ESI to craft a new and improved website, to make it easier to find the many benefits the SRU offers. The expected launch date will be in 3-4 months. If you are interested in joining an SRU committee, please send your name to Letty Carroll, our Executive Director (lcarroll@sru.org). Committee rosters are formed after the annual meeting by the new president.

While I’m asking for volunteers, please consider sending me a suggestion for a future SRU consensus conference topic. I have a few ideas already but would love to hear more from radiologists in reading rooms all over the world- what topic needs clarification or what prior topic needs updating? The SRU consensus conferences are a large part of what has put our small but mighty society on the map, and we will continue to focus our energy and efforts on these publications.

I want to thank the almost 100 members of the SRU who attended the first ever Town Hall in August, and the many members who completed the recent survey. The Board has reviewed the survey results, listened at the recent Town Hall, and received written and verbal feedback from a lot of you. It was clear to us that most members are in favor of making some changes to the society. We felt these changes would be best addressed in a stepwise fashion, and the proposed change for this year is essentially limited to opening membership to both physicists (and other scientists working in ultrasound) and sonographers. Making a change to the Society name is complicated for financial and visibility reasons (see the SRU consensus conference comments above). Changes to the fellowship eligibility and selection process are also complicated. We will use the upcoming year to continue to work through these issues, and all SRU members are encouraged to convey their thoughts to any and all of the Board members over the next few months.  This year’s proposed changes to the bylaws will be voted on at the Business meeting on Saturday, October 21st during the annual meeting.

I look forward to hearing from you over the next month, and to connecting with many of you in October. Thank you for the privilege of serving as the President of this amazing society for the past year. It has been my honor to work with a wonderful Executive Board and Executive Director, who have risen to my requests for help and support over and over this year, and to have had the opportunity to meet so many members of the Ultrasound community.

See you in DC!

Sincerely,

Mary C. Frates, MD, FSRU

SRU President