Hosting the Radiological Society of North America speakers from the RSNA International Visiting Professor Programme (2011 RSNA IVP), boasting a wide range of topics including “Maxmising Effectiveness” and a track on “Radiology Means Business” as well as an Inaugural Inter-University Quiz for Radiology trainees – the Dato’ Abdul Samad Sakijan Challenge Trophy were amongst some of the highlights in the 2011 College of Radiology’s (CoR) Annual Scientific Meeting. The scientific meeting was held at The Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur from 9-10 April 2011. There were about 330 delegates at the meeting, including a few from overseas such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bangalore and Hong Kong.

The pre-congress workshops (8 April) were on Basic PET-CT Interpretation and Vascular Ultrasound and were held with the collaboration of Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine and Vision College respectively.

Meet Our Delegates...

Dr Azian Abd Aziz, a radiologist working in International Islamic University in Kuantan has a passion – ZUMBA!  She is s certified instructor in Zumba and teaches almost daily for fun and fitness!

David Yeung Ka Wai- Medical Physicist from Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong was spotted indulging in our Malaysian delicacy – Musang Durian in SS2, Petaling Jaya

The event was officiated by Yg Bhg Dr Zaridah Hambali, Director of Academic Development, Ministry of Higher Education. In her keynote address, she spoke on “Leading the Future: Radiology Education in an Era of Innovation and Change.” This was followed by a plenary lecture by Prof Dr David Mark Yousem (Professor of Radiology, Director of Neuroradiology, Vice Chairman of Programme Development, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore) entitled “How To Maximise Your Effectiveness”. His motivating and energetic presentation proved very useful to the audience for personal and career development.

The other 2 visiting professors under the 2011 RSNA IVP were Andrea Schwartz Doria (Associate Professor of Radiology, Hospital For Sick Children, Toronto and epidemiologist & scientist, Chair of Clinical Investigator Programme, University of Toronto) and John P. McGahan (Professor of Radiology & Director, Section of Diagnostic Ultrasound, Abdominal Imaging Department as well as Diagnostic Radiology Residency Programme, University of California, Davis; School of Medicine, Sacramento).

There were tracks on Paediatric Radiology, Oncology, Interventional Radiology, Medical Physics, Central Nervous System, Head & Neck, Abdomen and Pelvis, Breast Imaging, Accreditation & Litigation, Professional Motivation and Academic Excellence. The faculty were made up of the RSNA Visiting Professors and other foreign speakers Mary Rickard from Australia, Ann King & David Yeung from Hong Kong and the Malaysian faculty were made up of , Dato’ Dr Abdul Samad Sakijan, Noriah Jamal , Dharmendra Harichandra, Ahmad Sobri Muda, Khairul Azmi Abd Kadir, Azleen Mohd Zain, Basri JJ Abdullah. The Radiology Means Business track included speakers Mohd Sahir Rahmat - KPJ Senior Group General Manager and Catherine Lee May Ling – Manager of Cancer and Radiosurgery Centre, Sime Darby Healthcare Group.

The 2nd plenary lecture was given by Andrea Doria. She spoke on Common Paediatric Bone Tumours followed by a look at the future with Molecular and Functional Imaging.

There were 70 poster submissions and out of these, 16 were short-listed for judging. The first prize, a book voucher of RM500 was awarded for the poster Evaluation of Solid Breast Lesions with Power Doppler Ultrasound, primary author Dr Kartini Rahmat, University Malaya Medical Centre. The second prize was a book voucher of RM300 and the poster was on “Contrast with Non Contrast Enhanced 3-D Endoanal Ultrasound in Pre-operative Assessment of Anal Fistula: A Comparative Study”. The primary author was Dr Low Soo Fin from University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Rounding up the 2 day scientific meeting were the Dato’ Dr Abdul Samad Sakijan Challenge Trophy presentation, lucky draws from 2 of our trade exhibitors, Fuji Film and IBA Molecular. Closing remarks were made by Prof Dr David Yousem on behalf of the RSNA IVP and Dato’ Dr Humairah Samad-Cheung, President of the CoR.

As always, the CoR is grateful to all the trade exhibitors and sponsors who helped to make this meeting such a success. The Gold Sponsor was Bayer Co (M) Sdn Bhd which also hosted a Hospitality Suite and our other sponsors/trade exhibitors were Technology Medical Associate Sdn Bhd, Axir Medical Sdn Bhd, Siemens Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Delta Medisains (M) Sdn Bhd, IBA Molecular, APT Healthcare Services Sdn Bhd, I-Medic Imaging Sdn Bhd, Salvo Healthcare Sdn Bhd, Gideons (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Best Contact (M) Sdn Bhd, Abex Medical System Sdn Bhd, Infinitt SE Asia Sdn Bhd, Pharmaforte (M) Sdn Bhd, Transmedic Healthcare Sdn Bhd, FujiFilm (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Covidien/Tyco Healthcare, Diagnostica Marketing Sdn Bhd and Medione (Asia) Sdn Bhd. Techology Medical Associate Sdn Bhd also hosted a lunch symposium. Research Books Asia Pte Ltd also set up a book stand which was popular with the delegates.

The Trade Exhibition had a very exciting end to the first day of the meeting when Covidien held their lucky draw for a Samsung phone and the highly sought after Apple iPad on 9th April 2011.

Although the CoR Annual Scientific Meeting consumed the whole weekend, it was worth the sacrifice judging from the positive feedback even during the course of the meeting.