Dr. Emanuele Neri is president of the newly formed European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics.At the basis of this important step forward, there has been a careful review process that involved all active members of the society. They received an invitation to participate in an online survey on the future objectives of the society and were asked to propose a new name.
The vast majority of the members thought EuroPACS should change its name and the new names should include the term imaging informatics. They also suggested the society had to expand its field of interest, beyond the concept of PACS. In fact, EuroPACS was already engaged on topics of imaging informatics, but the name did not allow a clear understanding of the broad field of its interest.
The renewal process was discussed deeply by the board in multiple meetings, and the panel drafted the following new mission statement:
The vision of the society is the integration of information and communication technology with diagnostic and therapeutic medical imaging. The mission is to foster the transition from research to clinical application and education in the following fields:
- Intelligent infrastructures and processes for image and knowledge management in medical diagnosis and therapy
- Clinical computer application of medical images
- Seamless information sharing for healthcare delivery and for clinical research purposes
- Standards and quality assurance methods and tools
In the evolving medical imaging world, imaging informatics is playing a key role in this process -- beyond radiology -- involving oncology, cardiology, surgery, pathology, and others.
The next event of the new society is the EuSoMII Academy course, Imaging Informatics in Oncology, which will be held in Turin, Italy, in September 2013, organized by Dr. Daniele Regge. The course will focus on cancer imaging and will have a very practical approach, with a full day dedicated to review of cases using specialized software. The main topics will be imaging tumor response with Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and other criteria, and computer-aided diagnosis (CAD). The program is available here. The course will have both European (EACCME) and Italian (ECM) accreditation.
Founded in 1982, EuroPACS established itself as a scientific reference circle of reputable experts in the field of imaging informatics and PACS. It gained its credentials at the time when PACS development and implementation was still at the frontier of technical innovations in medicine. During the early years of EuroPACS, commercial systems and vendor solutions did not exist, and EuroPACS annual meetings were a unique opportunity to meet the pioneers in the field and learn from their technical innovations and developments.
Nowadays, the core interest of the association is centered on medical images embedded into electronic healthcare, beyond the PACS and the producer (radiology, nuclear medicine, surgery, cardiology, and other clinical fields). The EuSoMII welcomes members from all disciplines involved in the area of computer applications of medical imaging. More information can be found at www.eusomii.org.
Dr. Emanuele Neri is president of the European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics.
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