The Program and Education Committees would like to invite technologists from around the world to attend the 19th Annual Meeting of the Section for Magnetic Resonance Technologists. Our meeting will be held on the 1st- 2nd of May, 2010 in conjunction with the ISMRM – ESMRMB Joint Annual Meeting at the Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm International Fairs, Sweden. The goal of the SMRT is to provide quality educational opportunities for MR technologists / radiographers, and to foster and maintain a high level of professionalism in the field.

Feedback from previous meetings indicates that registrants highly regard the opportunity to present and hear proffered papers and poster presentations. We widely encourage technologists from around the world who are interested in sharing their work to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentation. The poster exhibition and walking tour will be a key event on the Friday evening prior to the weekend program. This is a great opportunity to meet other registrants, and to see the work of your peers in both the clinical and research environments. The structure of the meeting program allows for seven oral presentations. These presentations will be made by the authors of the top scoring abstracts, with the highest-scored overall abstract receiving the President’s Award. First, Second, and Third Place Awards in both Clinical Practice and Research-focussed presentations will also be awarded. Authors of abstracts not selected for an award and subsequent oral presentation may also choose to submit an electronic poster for award consideration. Poster awards include First, Second, and Third Place awards in both the Clinical Practice and Research categories. Abstracts with either a clinical practice or research focus will be accepted until 6 January, 2010. Online abstract instructions and submissions will be available on the SMRT website: www.ismrm.org/smrt.

This year’s program offers a diverse range of forums including MR technology updates, advances in safety, high and ultra-high field imaging updates, abdominal, paediatric, musculoskeletal, and neuro-imaging, as well as a forum on emerging technologies such as non-neuro spectroscopy, MR elastography (MRE), and fetal imaging. The SMRT Business Meeting will be held before lunch on Saturday. The Business Meeting is an open session for members to attend and learn what the SMRT is doing to further its mission and goals. Members choosing to attend will remain current regarding the activities of the SMRT over the previous year and the goals for the upcoming year. All members of the Policy Board and Executive Committee are introduced. This is an important part of the meeting where you as a member get to voice your questions/opinions to the Policy Board and Executive Members. Your attendance and interaction at this meeting is invaluable to the SMRT in continuously improving our networking with our membership and allowing the SMRT to increase its ability to evolve further as a global resource of MR education. On the Sunday afternoon awards will be presented to our members who have helped fulfill the SMRT’s commitment to excellence in MR education. Awards will also be presented to the authors of the most outstanding papers and posters in the Clinical and Research-focused categories.

Finally, please be sure to attend the SMRT and ISMRM Joint Forum presentation which will be held at 14:00 on Monday, 3 May 2010. Your registration for the SMRT Annual Meeting allows you to attend this forum. This year the forum topic is titled “Safe Exposure Limits for Staff and Patients,” organized by Penny A. Gowland, Ph.D. and Ben Kennedy, BAppSc (MIT) MMRT. Presenters include Donald McRobbie, Ph.D., Freddy Stahlberg, Ph.D., and Siga Greers, R.T. The joint forum, by design, is a grand collaboration of energy and talent between the ISMRM and the SMRT, and continuously aims to promote the highest quality of education in the MR world.  In addition to the Joint Forum, technologists attending the ISMRM-ESMRMB Joint Annual Meeting will have the opportunity to acquire up to 36 Category A CE Credits. The specific courses that will be submitted for CE Credits are listed here [pdf].

The SMRT was established to provide superior educational opportunities for technologists/radiographers, as well as to provide a forum for members to collaborate with, and learn from each other. The 2010 Annual Meeting is dedicated to providing these opportunities. On behalf of the 2010 Program and Education Committees, we are pleased to invite you to join us in Sweden for an educational symposium all about MR Imaging – Now and Into the Future.