December 5, 2019 — The following is by Lawrence L. Wald, Ph.D., President at The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM).
For more than 25 years, our society has continued to keep magnetic resonance education at the forefront of the healthcare industry. From our year-round, international, multi-day workshops, to the diverse cutting-edge content of our virtual meetings, and our well-established annual meeting, the ISMRM focuses on the latest research and best practices —sharing ideas within an inventive and dynamic community. As a long-standing member myself, I have been able to witness the growth and excitement that our ever-evolving society sustains.
We continue to grow and challenge ourselves as a society as our members continue to grow and change. We have established an active EDI committee that is committed to nurturing our community and culture that supports equity, diversity, and inclusion to create environments where all people feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. We want to ensure that all of our members have equal opportunity and are not discriminated against or treated differently — placing a positive value on those differences while also being inclusive. We are very proud of what we are becoming and the diverse membership that we have. It is a strength that we draw from. Right now is the perfect time to renew or become a member of the ISMRM. We have already planned some exciting programs and events for 2020 and beyond and we will continue to provide the best educational support to our members.
As I had recently mentioned, our goal is to bridge diverse expertise and types of training, from the basic sciences and engineering to the clinical sciences and clinical practice, including the actual delivery of care. That is why we are so careful to foster this spectrum of 9,000-plus members of Ph.D.s, M.D.s, and MR technologists and radiographers and cultivate collaboration among them, forming a very unique society. The ISMRM has a specific section of its membership dedicated to MR radiographers and technologists called the Society for MR Radiographers & Technologists (SMRT). We want to reach out to these dedicated professionals who help define the patient experience, which is one of the reasons why we continue to exhibit at RSNA. The SMRT provides cutting-edge education to continue to elevate this valuable profession.
After 25 years, our community is still growing. Our goal is always to continue to improve the quality of life and health of people across the globe. I am proud to be the president of ISMRM for the 2019-2020 term and hope that you find time to visit our Booth #1303 during RSNA to find out more about ISMRM and SMRT. Ask about our scientific workshops and virtual meetings and get information on our next annual meeting being held April 18 to 23, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. It is going to be another exciting meeting with a lot of networking opportunities to meet other passionate MR colleagues from around the world.
Lawrence L. Wald, Ph.D., is currently the ISMRM President, a Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Affiliated Faculty of the Harvard-MIT Division Health Sciences Technology. He received a B.A. in physics at Rice University, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. His work has explored the benefits and challenges of highly parallel MRI and its application to highly accelerated image encoding and parallel excitation and ultra-high field MRI (7 Tesla) methodology for brain imaging, including improved methods for matrix shimming and gradient coil design. His lab also focuses on motion mitigation methods, portable MRI technology, and is developing a prototype functional Magnetic Particle Imaging scanner.
For more information: www.ismrm.org
December 03, 2025 
