Prof. Dr. Konstantin Nikolaou has given his first major interview as president of the German Roentgen Society (Deutsche Roentgengesellschaft, DRG). Raising the visibility of radiology will be one of his central goals, along with improving training and education.
Prof. Dr. Konstantin Nikolaou, from the University Hospital of Tübingen. Image courtesy of the DRG.Nikolaou's term began at the recent German Congress of Radiology meeting in Wiesbaden and will continue until 2025. He replaces Prof. Dr. Jörg Barkhausen of the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein in Lübeck.
During his term, Nikolaou will focus on internationalization, science, and research in radiology, as well as hospital and outpatient care reform and the shortage of radiology professionals, he noted in an interview posted on 12 July by the DRG.
In the interview, Nikolaou acknowledged the challenges and risks facing radiology, particularly the lack of skilled workers and training and registration issues.
"We also have to work on our clinical and public visibility among patients, colleagues, and decision-makers by visibly getting involved at all levels," he said. "We have to emphasize our strengths, the integration of diagnostics and therapy and our diverse and increasing possibilities in the field of interventional radiology and actively contribute to joint interdisciplinary treatment concepts."
Radiology is experiencing rapidly changing framework conditions, such as ongoing digitization, increasing possibilities of AI, new impulses in further education and teaching, and above all new framework conditions in health policy, according to Nikolaou. "We have to react to these changes proactively, in a considered manner and in a well-coordinated way with our partners."
To read the full interview in German, go to the DRG website.
