Dear Members,

I am pleased to give you this update on activities of the SUR since our last meeting. It is an honor to serve as the president of the SUR this year and to report to you on some of the work that has been done for the Society. Each member of the Board of Directors has made substantial contributions throughout the year for the Society.

The annual Abdominal Radiology Course in Carlsbad was extremely successful. We had over 600 attendees in a very exciting and stimulating meeting. The SUR scientific presentations were superb. The venue in southern California was fantastic. Financially the meeting was successful and we look forward to another rewarding meeting in 2012 in Scottsdale.

We also had a combined SUR/ESUR meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia in October. I have just returned from this meeting and it was also a smashing success. There were over 50 SUR members presenting at this meeting. The collaboration between the SUR and the ESUR was beneficial and both presented cutting edge materials that were of great educational and scientific value. Please keep in mind the 2012 ESUR meeting which will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland. See www.esur.org for updates.

We are moving forward with the final arrangements for the SUR-SGR merger which will be finalized at our next combined meeting in March. In preparation for that, the combined Board of Directors for the societies met for a strategic planning retreat this summer. The merger has gone along well and there are no problems in completing this important plan. In addition, we are looking forward to a superb meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 25-30, 2012 at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort. We are making some improvements in the meeting from previous years and these include the following:

• Posters and Syllabus in Electronic Format: We are making a transition to an all electronic format for the posters and most of the syllabus. There will be an abbreviated hardcopy syllabus distributed at the meeting as well. The advantages of electronic format for the posters is that it frees up additional meeting room space, it allows us to post the materials on the web-site after the meeting, and it allows viewing of the posters from remote sites during the meeting. In addition, we plan to offer free internet access in the convention area of the hotel to allow viewing of the posters and syllabus materials, as well as for social networking and messaging for meeting facilitation.

• Essentials Course: We have developed a two-year track of workshops which will cover essential elements in uroradiology and gastrointestinal radiology. This will be an excellent review for all abdominal radiologists, and it will be particularly helpful in preparing for the initial ABR certification exam and the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) exam.

• Interactive Workshops: In addition to our standard lectures and workshops, we will be offering additional workshops including one on advanced prostate imaging. More information will be available in the meeting brochure.

• Website Development: A great deal of work has been performed in developing a new website for the combined Society which will now be called The Society of Abdominal Radiology (SAR). The new website should enable easy navigation, and access to SAR resources, including materials from the annual meeting, along with links to additional resources. This will become operational early in 2012.
  
• Journal: As a member benefit, we are exploring the possibility of affiliating with an academic journal. This would afford us improved communications and an arena for publication of scientific materials and announcements for our members. Further information on this development will be forthcoming.

In addition to these meeting enhancements, I am also looking forward to enjoying the fantastic meeting venue. The hotel is beautiful, the rooms are elegant and luxurious, and the property is spacious with numerous pools, tennis facilities and two world famous golf courses. The meeting venue is reflective of the southwestern environment and is unique to this area. The weather should be perfect and there will be lots to do for spouses and attendees, in addition to the meeting. We are planning a cooking class, a wine tasting, a yoga class, and an Art Gallery tour that will be organized for accompanying guests and will run concurrently during our morning meeting sessions. Other off site tours will be available. In addition, there will be numerous opportunities for outdoor activities including golf, tennis, touring the local cities and arts areas, and baseball’s Cactus League spring training games will be ongoing. We are also planning golf and tennis tournaments during the course.

There will be a full slate of expert presenters for plenary lectures, workshops, advanced interactive workshops including the advanced prostate imaging workshop, CT colonography, and small bowel imaging workshops. The Essentials Course as described above will be a new innovation which will start with this meeting. Our invited SUR New Horizons Lecturer will be Dr. Anthony Atala from Wake Forest School of Medicine. Dr. Atala is a world-renowned expert in regenerative medicine and his lecture promises to be truly exciting, giving us a glimpse of the incredible potential future developments in organ repair and regeneration, specifically in urology. Dr. Tarek El-Diasty, a world-renowned radiologist from Egypt will be the ESUR Lecturer and make a presentation on Bladder Imaging with his unique perspective coming from the Middle East. Please do not miss these lectures. The SUR Gold Medal will be awarded to one of our most outstanding and well liked members, Carl Sandler, and the Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to Jelle Barentsz who has made many tremendous scientific contributions in Uroradiology.

I am honored to serve as the president and I look forward to seeing all of you at our upcoming meeting. It will be a great time in Arizona.

Sincerely,
Ronald J. Zagoria, M.D.
2011-2012 SUR President