Aloha!

As the Chair of the Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC), it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 26th Annual International meeting for the Society for MR Radiographers & Technologists (SMRT). The meeting will be held at the Hawai’i Convention Center in Honolulu on the 21st – 24th April 2017. I am sure you’ll be delighted to hear that this state-of-the-art facility is only a short distance from the world famous Waikiki beaches. The theme of this year’s educational meeting is to ‘Bridge the Gap between MRI in Theory, Clinical Practice and Scientific Advances,’ the aim being to equip our community with knowledge to help us deliver best practice now – and in the years to come!

The meeting starts on Friday 21st April at 17:00 with a tour of the research & clinical posters, and is followed by presentations from all of the SMRT poster award winners. It is a real honour for your work to be recognised at an international meeting, so make sure you come along and show your support for your colleagues in the MRI community. The Friday evening will include the ceremony for all SMRT Educational Award recipients and the awards for the Proffered Papers. On that note, I would like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate all award winners, particularly to those whom will also be giving platform presentations over the course of the weekend namely Ben Kennedy, Glenn Cahoon, Lori Talagala, Michelle Aye Myat Myat Htun, Lisa Desiderio & Tanya Lynn Wah Kan.

We have a fantastic start to our weekend program this year, opening with plenary session presentations from Prof. Mark Griswold and A/Prof. Kawin Setsompop, both of whom are considered world-leaders in their field. The AMPC has worked hard this year to ensure that your education program has something for everyone! We have an impressive list of expert and engaging speakers who will be providing education sessions focused on MRI fundamentals, Neuro, Cardiac, MSK, PET-MRI, MRI management, and last but not least MRI safety. The program is designed to include in all forums perspectives from Clinicians, Physicists, Radiographers & Technologists and presentations from world renowned leaders in their field.

The education program has been designed to provide an overview of the basics of each topic, an update on applications, and knowledge about emerging techniques to help ‘bridge the gap between MRI in theory and actual practice.’ On that note, I am also delighted to announce that with the support of ISMRM we will for the first time be delivering a 3rd full day of accredited talks on Monday 24th April to maximize the value for our attendees. The Monday meeting opens with the ISMRM plenary on Gadolinium deposition, then is followed by focused sessions on Pelvic MRI, Advanced imaging of pain, MRI for neurosurgery, and MS imaging. In addition, the ISMRM-SMRT joint forum is focused on MRI safety. The aim of this series of SMRT and ISMRM safety presentations this year is to deliver a program that is across MRI safety issues from the perspectives of all MRI professionals.

Finally, the SMRT social event will be at the exclusive Sky Waikiki on Saturday 22nd April. Our private function will be hosted on the deck of the rooftop bar, which means that you will experience some of the best panoramic views of Waikiki as the sun sets into the clear blue waters of the Pacific on a backdrop of glittering Honolulu city lights. Food & drinks will be served from 19:00 on the deck at the Sky Waikiki, and the dress code is more ‘SMaRT’ than casual – so feel free to dust off those dancing shoes! Attendance to the Saturday night social is free to all SMRT meeting registrants and invited speakers, but places are limited, so be sure to RSVP for the SMRT social early to secure your place!