By Pooja Voria, MD, MBA, President, WSRS
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Thank you to all who attended our very first joint annual meeting with the WSMA on October 14th. Once again, I would like to thank Dr. Puneet Bhargava for a very successful program. This meeting also provided an opportunity to mingle with referring clinicians and put forth a “face of radiology” in the house of medicine. A special thank you to Dr. Diana Lam, Dr. Anika McGrath and Dr. Meghan Macomber for their efforts in developing the resident/fellow and medical student sessions.
In addition to our annual meeting, we have been very busy this fall hosting a variety of events across the state. We held our first networking event with the Young and Early Career Professional Section (YPS) at Puzzle Break, a local “escape room” experience. Unfortunately, we didn’t “escape,” but it was a fun opportunity to meet other YPS members in the radiology community. We will continue to host events for the YPS in the upcoming year. Our next event will be a dinner discussion regarding financial planning on January 27th (more details on this event are included in this newsletter).
November 8th 2017 has been proclaimed as the Washington Day of Radiology by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and Spokane Day of Radiology by Spokane Mayor David Condon. This is also the day celebrated world-wide as International Day of Radiology (IDoR), commemorating the discovery of the X-Ray by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen on November 8, 1895. This year IDoR celebrates the essential role radiologists play in the emergency room. The WSRS sponsored a networking event in Spokane where radiologists from Radia, Inland Imaging and other local practices gathered to celebrate IDoR as well as the International Day of Medical Physics (November 7th).
The WSRS Committee on Women and General Diversity is working with the University of Washington Radiology Department to host a mentoring program for residents and fellows early next year. If you are interesting in being a part of this mentoring event, please let us know. A survey asking female members of WSRS has been set up and invitations to participate in it went out earlier this month.
Finally, our annual Olympia Advocacy Day is set for February 1, 2018. Please join us and make the “Voice of Radiology” heard loud and clear in Olympia. It’s a fun and unique experience that I encourage all radiologists to participate in at least once in their career. Please contact our office to let us know if you can attend.
As always, the WSRS board is open to suggestions from our membership. So if you have an idea, want to help out at an event, or get involved, please do not hesitate to contact me at wsrspresident@gmail.com or Debra Alderman, our executive director, at debra@wsrs.org. Have a wonderful upcoming holiday season!
Warmest regards,
Pooja Voria, MD, MBA, President, WSRS, 2016-2018