For this month’s ESR News interview, we spoke to Prof. Laura Oleaga, from Barcelona, Spain, who serves on the ESR Executive Council as chair of the ESR Education Committee. She gave us an insight into the workings and recent achievements of her committee, as well as her own background within the ESR.

ESR News: What is the overall purpose of the ESR Education Committee and how does it operate?
Prof. Laura Oleaga: The purpose of the ESR Education Committee and its subcommittees is to promote education in radiology to achieve homogeneity in radiology education throughout Europe. To achieve this, the committee acts as a consultative body for all educational activities within the ESR and works closely with the European School of Radiology (ESOR), the European Board of Radiology (EBR), which organises the European Diploma in Radiology (EDiR), and the ESR’s e-Learning platform. The main objective of the committee is to achieve maximum quality in radiology training across Europe.

Prof. Laura Oleaga, chair of the ESR Education Committee

ESR: The committee interacts with a number of other groups and subcommittees. What roles do the European Training Assessment Programme Subcommittee (ETAP) and the Undergraduate Education Subcommittee play?
LO: Following the aim of harmonising the standards of radiology training in Europe, ETAP gives radiological institutions the opportunity to have their training programmes objectively assessed by external assessors nominated by the ESR, to guide their training in radiology according to the standards of the ESR European Training Curriculum for Radiology (ETC).

Moreover, it is important to promote the specialty of radiology in universities. In this regard the ESR Undergraduate Education Subcommittee is responsible for all activities aimed at the promotion of radiological education among medical students. The subcommittee has developed the paper Becoming a radiologist and is currently working on a guidance paper for all those interested or engaged in teaching radiology to medical undergraduates.
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For this month’s ESR News interview, we spoke to Prof. Michael Fuchsjäger, from Graz, Austria, who serves on the ESR Executive Council as chair of the ESR Finance & Internal Affairs Committee. He gave us an insight into the workings and recent achievements of his committee, as well as his own background within the ESR.

ESR Office: What is the overall purpose of the ESR FIA Committee and how does it operate?
Prof. Michael Fuchsjäger: The Finance and Internal Affairs Committee is responsible for monitoring the ESR’s investments and preparing the society’s annual budget. It presents regular updates to the Executive Council for discussion and final approval. To set a good example and save both time and resources, most of the committee’s meetings are held as part of the Executive Council meetings rather than on separate occasions. Aside from budgetary questions, the committee is also responsible for membership issues. The ESR reached a record of 60,000 members in June last year, finally peaking at 62,934 individual members from 156 countries. Despite this huge number, which makes the ESR the world’s biggest radiological society, the ESR attaches great importance to maintaining a high professional standard of its member community. The FIA Committee receives reports from the ESR Office’s Membership Department at regular intervals, which is part of the mechanism to ensure that the application criteria for the various membership categories are met. Membership subscription for 2015 is still open until August 27, 2015. Before this deadline, there will be increased promotion especially among those who have not yet seized the opportunity to benefit from the numerous related benefits. I invite all of you to visit the ESR website for more information.

Prof. Michael Fuchsjäger, chair of the ESR Finance & Internal Affairs Committee

ESR: What are the main issues currently on the committee’s agenda, and how are they being tackled?
MF: The ESR’s budget is constantly monitored with the ultimate goal of achieving the best possible efficiency for the benefit of the society’s members. Each project proposed by any of the ESR’s numerous committees, subcommittees and other entities has an impact on the budget. When evaluating potential new activities in terms of cost efficiency, the ESR focuses on meeting the demands of its membership and the radiological scientific community. The evaluation is of course a constant process and continues for all established activities. The ESR committees and their sub-entities are structured in such a way as to create and permanently monitor synergies, for example by cross-representation of their members. The committee chairs, who attend all meetings of their sub-entities and coordinate their activities, regularly report to the Executive Council. This allows for quick decision making processes, also in terms of potential budgetary implications.
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For this month’s ESR News interview we spoke to Prof. Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, from Heidelberg, Germany, who serves on the ESR Executive Council as chair of the ESR Research Committee. He gave us an insight into the workings and recent achievements of his committee, as well as his own background within the ESR.

ESR Office: What is the main purpose of the ESR Research Committee (RC) and how does it work in practice?
Hans-Ulrich Kauczor: The main purpose of the RC is strategic. The RC provides strategic recommendations to the ESR Executive Council. To do this properly, the RC surveys and supports the need of researchers in radiology. Also, the RC leverages the research-focused collaboration with other disciplines and their respective European societies.

One recent major achievement in this regard was the collaboration with the European Respiratory Society (ERS), where we agreed on joint recommendations on lung cancer screening in Europe, which we published in May 2015 simultaneously in European Radiology and the European Respiratory Journal.

Other major collaborations are in the field of imaging biomarkers together with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the RSNA’s Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (QIBA), as well as imaging biobanks with the Biobanking and BioMolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI-ERIC).

Prof. Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, chair of the ESR Research Committee

ESR: Can you explain the role of the Research Committee’s subcommittees and the recent structural changes that have taken place?
HUK: Just over two years ago, three additional working groups were established under the umbrella of the RC. Working groups exist temporarily to accomplish a certain goal for the ESR. The main goal of each of these working groups was to write and publish an opinion or white paper in their field. The outcomes in each of these fields were as follows:
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ESR Office: What is the main purpose of the ESR Publications Committee and how does it operate?
Lorenzo Derchi: The aim of the ESR Publications Committee is to coordinate the society’s many publications and to advance them. Our two journals, European Radiology and Insights into Imaging, as well as our two electronic databases EURORAD and EPOS, are the ESR’s most important scientific endeavours. The two newsletters, ESR@Work and ESR News, are the means through which the society keeps in touch with all its institutional and individual members.

Behind the success of these initiatives is the dedication of a large number of people. The first are the Editors-in-Chief of each publication. Their expertise in relating with the submitting authors, guiding the groups of section editors and scientific reviewers, and choosing the right directions for continuous increase of the standing of their journals are to be underlined. Then, all members of the Scientific Publications Department at the ESR office in Vienna have to be remembered. Their work is essential as they follow each submitted manuscript through the editorial process, ensure all deadlines are met to keep every issue on time, and maintain the house style that makes all ESR publications recognisable among all other publications.

Prof. Lorenzo Derchi, chair of the ESR Publications Committee

ESR: What are the main issues currently on the committee’s agenda, and how are they being tackled? What new issues or projects do you think the Publications Committee will be dealing with in the coming years?
LD: During 2014, together with Springer, we decided to start a new online-first textbook series based on the ESR European Training Curriculum for Radiology, which should help candidates preparing to take the European Diploma of Radiology. The books are in fact intended to be written by trainees under the supervision of a senior volume editor. There will be eleven volumes and all contributions will be invited and planned simultaneously, with a target completion date in late 2016 or early 2017. The Series Editor of the whole initiative will be Prof. Birgit Ertl-Wagner, from Munich. ESR members will have free access to the books through SpringerLink, via the ESR MyUserArea.

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Talking to our own members is obviously important to the ESR, but communication with the public and other groups of radiologists is high on the agenda too. This is why the ESR has its own Communication and External Affairs Committee, which is responsible for relations with patient groups and international societies, as well as various other initiatives. We spoke to the committee chairperson, Prof. Boris Brkljačić, to find out a little about the committee’s functions and his own role.

ESR Office: What is your background within the ESR committee structure and what motivates you to be involved?
Boris Brkljačić: I have been involved in ESR activities for more than a decade. I have been the national representative of the Croatian Society of Radiology on two ESR committees and was involved in ESR activities while I was president of Croatian Society of Radiology. I was also a member first of the Finance Committee, and then of the Communication and External Affairs Committee (CEAC) during the chairmanship of Dr. Luigi Solbiati. After that I served from 2011 to 2014 as chairman of the ESR Finance and Internal Affairs Committee, and in March 2014 I was elected chairman of the Communication and External Affairs Committee. I have been involved in the organisation of several ECRs as a member of the programme planning committee and of two subcommittees, and I was the local organiser of one of the first ESOR courses in 2007, in Dubrovnik. I am also a member of the ESR working group on economics. Being involved with the ESR is very stimulating and motivating. It is a well organised, large and efficient professional society. The benefits for members are many, and the ESR’s activities are especially beneficial for countries that are smaller and have fewer resources, not only in the educational sense but also in the sense of professional activities and the harmonisation of the practice of radiology on the European level.

Prof. Boris Brkljačić, chair of the ESR Communication & External Affairs Committee

ESR: What is the main purpose of the Communication and External Affairs Committee and how does it operate?
BB: The Committee is responsible for liaison with other European and international societies, public relations initiatives of the society, coordinating activities related to the International Day of Radiology, activities related to the Patient Advisory Group in Medical Imaging, activities related to the International Summit at ECR, and it is also involved in the EU agenda. The committee consists of a chairman and four members at large (currently Prof. Philippe Grenier, Prof. Fermin Saez, Prof. Paul Sidhu and Prof. Mustafa Ozmen), as well as the president and 2nd vice-president of the ESR. The chairman of the European School of Radiology (ESOR) and the executive director of the ESR are ex officio members without voting rights. The members meet in person during the ECR, and otherwise communicate electronically.

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Organisations that represent professionals working in radiological subspeciaties and allied sciences are vital parts of the ESR community. The ESR has its own body – the Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Committee – that is dedicated to discussing and highlighting issues that affect these groups. We spoke to chairperson Dr. Catherine Owens to find out about her role, the committee’s functions and some of the items on its current agenda.

ESR Office: What is the main purpose of the Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Committee (SASC) and how does it operate?

Catherine Owens: The SASC was formed to unite all of the important subspecialties within clinical radiology, and the important allied healthcare professionals. The committee is made up of the presidents of each of the ESR’s Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Member Societies. This provides a forum to highlight the common issues within radiology and to try to empower the individual groups to understand and help find joint solutions. As a united group we are more able to increase our powers to lobby national and EU groups to solve some of the current challenges facing radiologists.

Dr. Catherine Owens, chair of the ESR’s Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Committee

Practically speaking, the committee coordinates initiatives related to pertinent issues within all subspecialties in radiology and allied disciplines, in cooperation with the Education Committee for specific educational issues and with the Quality, Safety and Standards Committee for specific professional issues. In addition, the committee assists the European Congress of Radiology Programme Planning Committee in the preparation of the educational and scientific programme for the annual ECR meetings.

Specific tasks and responsibilities of the group include revising detailed curricula for subspecialty training in liaison with the Education Committee; devising Strategies to support the provision of subspecialist radiology; providing liaison between European subspecialty societies, allied sciences societies and the ESR; and contributing to the overall strategies of the ESR related to professional issues, training harmonisation and research collaboration.

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Many ESR projects fit into the category of education, so it is no surprise that the society’s Education Committee is one of its most active. We spoke to Prof. Birgit Ertl-Wagner, who has chaired the committee since March 2012, to find out a little more about its activities.

ESR Office: What is the overall purpose of the ESR Education Committee and how does it operate?
Birgit Ertl-Wagner: The Education Committee serves as an advisory body for all educational topics within the ESR. Major goals of the committee are the establishment of structures for both undergraduate and postgraduate radiology education and the harmonisation of training in radiology across Europe.

The committee is composed of several subcommittees covering – among other things – training assessment and undergraduate education. Also, the Radiology Trainees Forum is associated with the Education Committee. The committee and the various subcommittees hold meetings on a regular basis, mostly online. We also always meet in person during the ECR.

Prof. Birgit Ertl-Wagner, professor of radiology and section chief for magnetic resonance imaging at the Institute of Clinical Radiology, University of Munich – Grosshadern Campus, and chair of the ESR Education Committee

ESR: What is your background within the ESR committee structure and what motivates you to be involved?
BEW: I first became involved in the ESR committee structure as a member of the audit and standards subcommittee. Subsequently, I chaired the European Training Assessment Program (ETAP), which is a subcommittee of the Education Committee. Since March 2012, I have chaired the Education Committee.

My motivation to be involved in the ESR stems from my firm belief that a strong cooperation and collaboration between European radiologists will help us to better serve our patients and to augment radiology and healthcare as a whole. Moreover, I am also convinced that an outreach beyond the borders of Europe also enhances the manifold benefits that radiology brings to our societies. Last but not least, education is an ideal vehicle to shape the future of radiology and to create a “Radiology without Borders” – to quote the motto of ECR 2015.

ESR: What are the main issues currently on the committee’s agenda, and how are they being tackled?
BEW: There are many activities currently on the committee´s agenda. One of the priorities of the Education Committee is the harmonisation of radiology in Europe. To reach this end, a detailed European Training Curriculum (ETC) for radiology training levels I and II has been developed, which will serve as a model for the development of national curricula. The ESR encourages a five-year training period in radiology with three years allocated to level I and two years for level II. Together with the subspecialty societies we are currently developing a level III curriculum for full subspecialty training after the completion of radiology training. Moreover, we are developing a U-level curriculum as a model for teaching curricula in radiology for undergraduate medical education. In addition, many other projects such as the accreditation of training schemes in radiology are currently underway.

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One of the ESR’s statutory committees underwent two subtle changes earlier this year; its interim chair was officially elected as chairperson, and its name was changed. We spoke to Dr. E. Jane Adam, Chair of the newly re-named ESR Quality, Safety and Standards Committee, to find out a little bit about her role, the committee’s function, and some of the key items on its agenda.

ESR Office: What is the overall purpose of the ESR Quality, Safety and Standards (QSS) Committee and how does it operate?
E. Jane Adam: The committee has several subcommittees and working groups covering radiation protection, audit and standards, management in radiology, e-health and informatics, ethics, ultrasound and a European Medicines Agency task force. They are all active in their various areas, undertaking projects, producing documents on behalf of the ESR, and liaising with other organisations. However, the aim of the committee as a whole is to promote high standards of radiology and, by working together, with cross fertilisation of ideas, the committee becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Dr. E. Jane Adam, consultant in diagnostic radiology at St. George’s Hospital, London, and chair of the ESR Quality, Safety & Standards Committee.

ESR: What is your background within the ESR committee structure and what motivates you to be involved?
EJA: I first became involved in the work of the ESR when I became chair of the Audit and Standards Subcommittee when it was first formed. This probably came about because I had chaired both the audit and standards committees of the Royal College of Radiologists in the UK. I have more recently been elected to chair the ‘parent’ QSS Committee. I have a long standing interest in these topics, and also wider professional issues in radiology from being chairman of a very large radiology department where I became very aware of the challenges for radiologists when the demands on radiology departments are increasing all the time, expectations are extremely high, and we rarely have the resources or manpower which we would like in order to provide the highest quality service.

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As every year, the ESR presidency changed hands at the European Congress of Radiology in March, with the new president, Prof. Guy Frija, from Paris, taking the reins from Prof. Gabriel P. Krestin. At the same time, the ECR 2014 Congress President, Prof. Valentin E. Sinitsyn, from Moscow, took over from Prof. José I. Bilbao as chairman of the Congress Committee.

In addition to these regular changes, a number of other positions on the Executive Council have been filled by new faces. First, Prof. Bernd Hamm, from Berlin, has moved up the chain into Prof. Sinitsyn’s position as 1st Vice-Chairperson of the Congress Committee, with Prof. Katrine Åhlström Riklund, from Umea, Sweden, elected to the role of 2nd Vice-Chairperson.
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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.