In an interview with ECR Today, incoming ESR President, Professor Guy Frija explained how the ESR should address the challenges raised by the explosion of ‘omics’ data and the advent of personalised medicine, as well as how it should assess the impact of the financial crisis on the specialty.

ECR Today: What are your plans and ambitions regarding your presidency?
Guy Frija: The development of the ESR since its establishment in 2005 has been amazing: the ESR is now the biggest radiological society in the world, and its annual meeting, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR), is one of the best radiology congresses worldwide. All of this is the result of intense activity in several fields, such as education, research, professional challenges and publications, for the development of which the role of my predecessors was instrumental, along with the dedication of many of our colleagues. Therefore my first goal is to keep up this momentum and run the society appropriately, in accordance with its new statutes. However, life is challenging, and we will have to face many new issues in the coming year.

Professor Guy Frija is head of the imaging department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital (Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, H.E.G.P.) in Paris.

The explosion of ‘omics’ (such as metabolomics, proteomics, genomics) data is changing the face of medicine so considerably and rapidly that, if we don’t pay enough attention, our specialty could be threatened. Personalised medicine is not a just a dream, but an actual reality, and we have to adapt our specialty to this new paradigm. This year, DNA sequencing could become available for less than €750 (US$1,000), and in the UK, the Prime Minister David Cameron has launched a programme for the development of personalised medicine. The development of personalised imaging, which has already begun in oncology, should be taken further, and we have to appreciate its impact on education. I will ask two or three subspecialties to reconsider their training charters in light of these new developments. The data explosion related to these changes raises not only the problem of their management, but also of their interpretation in an integrated way: the imaging parameters should be included in this new data knowledge organisation, where knowledge modelling will become a major challenge. The establishment of imaging biobanks should be promoted along with adapted data privacy regulation.

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At ECR 2013, ‘ESR meets’ will mark Latin America’s return to the congress. After Argentina in 2010 and Brazil in 2011, Chile will be a guest of honour within the popular programme, which promotes dialogue between radiologists from all over the world. ECR delegates will be given the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in Chilean radiology and appreciate the local realities of this faraway, yet culturally similar country. The ESR spoke with Professor Miguel Ángel Pinochet, president of the Chilean Society of Radiology, ahead of the meeting.

Professor Miguel Ángel Pinochet from Santiago, president of the Chilean Society of Radiology

The Radiological Society of South Africa (RSSA) will be a guest of honour at ECR 2013, as one of the three national radiological societies participating in the ‘ESR Meets’ programme. The society, which represents radiologists from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, is the second African radiological society to have been invited to take part in the popular programme. In a dedicated session that will hopefully begin a new area of collaboration between African and European radiologists, the RSSA’s delegation will focus on two of the biggest health issues in the region: HIV and tuberculosis.

RSSA President, Doctor Clive Wyndham Sperryn from Cape Town.

Spain, home to ECR 2013 president, Professor José Ignacio Bilbao, will be a guest of honour at the ‘ESR meets’ programme next March, at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna. The European Society of Radiology (ESR) spoke with Professor Carmen Ayuso, president of the Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM), ahead of the session, which will focus on ischaemic stroke, aortic aneurisms and hepatocellular carcinoma imaging, as well as the general state of radiology in Spain.

Professor Carmen Ayuso from Barcelona, president of the Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM)

The European Society of Radiology (ESR): What are the latest advances and remaining challenges in ischaemic stroke imaging?
Carmen Ayuso: The latest advances in this field are the generalised use of diffusion-perfusion and perfusion CT in evaluating the penumbra area in stroke patients, and the selection of good candidates for endovascular rescue after endovascular treatment failure. The accurate measure of the real penumbra volume based on these techniques and their accurate correlation with clinical evolution remain a challenge.

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In March 2012, we met with ECR 2013 president, Professor José Ignacio Bilbao to interview him for ECR Today, the daily congress newspaper. He talked about the ECR’s scientific programme, how he plans to increase multidisciplinarity and interactivity next year, as well as his passion for architecture.

ECR 2013 congress president, Prof. José Ignacio Bilbao

ESR: What will be the main highlights of ECR 2013’s scientific programme?
José Ignacio Bilbao: We will have a categorical course devoted to the evaluation of tumour response, which is a major issue. We will focus on how to evaluate response after any kind of therapeutic treatment or palliative procedure. It is not an easy course but it has a very well balanced programme.

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Our blog superstar, Prof. José Cáceres, is one of the most popular lecturers at the ECR. So popular that his Mini Course on chest radiography was fully booked way in advance of ECR 2012 and quite a few people were disappointed that they couldn’t get in. So we spoke to the man himself, to answer those people who asked for his lectures to be held in a larger room.

Wondering who is really behind the ESR? In actual fact, it’s our members; radiologists who have proven their ability and passion for the specialty and who want to help us move forward. Each year the ESR is placed in the responsible hands of a different group of these highly dedicated and extremely experienced European radiologists.

To give you a better idea of who these people currently are and exactly what they do, we interviewed both the ESR President, Prof. András Palkó, and ECR 2012 Congress President, Prof. Lorenzo Bonomo, and we also created profiles for a selection of key characters from the ESR Executive Council. Find out more via the links below…

The General Assembly on March 7, 2011, saw the establishment of the new ESR Executive Council.

Learn which key issues the ESR President aims to address during his tenure in an ECR Today interview with Prof. András Palkó.

Find out about the ECR 2012 Congress President’s ideas and innovations for the next congress in this ECR Today interview with Prof. Lorenzo Bonomo.

Get to know the new 2nd Vice-President, Prof. Guy Frija, and the new members of the Executive Council: Prof. Valentin Sinitsyn, Prof. Lorenzo E. Derchi, Prof. Boris Brkljačić, and Prof. Jim A. Reekers.