Meeting at 5/25/2000
MMS Headquarters in Waltham
Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm.
Present:
- Mark Hansberry, MD (President) : MH
Christoph Wald, MD PhD (Secretary): CW
Wayne Monsky, MD: WM
Emily Sedgwick, MD: ES
Mark Mullins, MD: MM
Items:
- Spring Forum 2000
- Social Event in July 2000
- Upcoming RFS Business Meeting
- Upcoming MRS RFS Dinner at town location
- Website
1. Spring Forum 2000
The upcoming spring forum 2000 was discussed which will be held at 6/1/2000 at 7pm. Emily Sedgwick was able to secure Carrie Hall at Brigham and Womens hospital as a venue. Food and beverages will be provided for 60 participants. All Massachusetts programs have been called individually and flyers have been faxed to the programs. CW sent email announcements to all members of the current MRS RFS distribution list. A reminder will be sent 2 days prior to the meeting. MM and CW will call programs again in the week of the event to remind people to come along. Introductory remarks will be made by Peter Gordon MD speaking about MRS/RFS and CW speaking about the MRS RFS, upcoming social events as well as introducing the program. A fellowship director (Julia Fielding MD) will then speak about the mechanics of the current application process from the perspective of a fellowship director. 4 fellows will report their personal experience when applying for a fellowship. Peter Gordon may be able to comment from the perspective of a private practice radiologist hiring graduated fellows versus residents straight out of training. There will be a chance for Q/A. During the discussion members of the RFS will introduce the issue of current plans by the ACR to change the fellowship application process. There may be a discussion on pros/cons of such a move. Representatives for Massachusetts (CW and MM) will have an opportunity at the national ACR meeting in NY in September to discuss any potential Massachusetts opinion on this issue with representatives from other states. Either CW or Peter Gordon will make closing remarks.
Notepaper will be provided to all participants carrying the MRS RFS logo in analogy to the website, which also features the date of the upcoming “mixer” social event and the web-address of the section to be created by CW.
MM and CW will also create a flyer announcing upcoming social event and next MRS RFS meeting which will be available to forum participants that night and will also be sent out to each individual program.
An email list will be provided on the night of the forum for participants who wish to be included in the MRS RFS Distribution list even if they haven’t joined yet.
The group discussed pro/con of fellowship on the background of current litigation in CAQ subspecialties, current job market situation, networking opportunities, acquisition of general radiological skills potentially required for private practice radiologists or lack thereof etc.
2. Social Event in July 2000
The main focus of the section for the next two months will be membership drive at the beginning of the new academic year. It was suggested to have a social event at the beginning of July with particular focus on welcoming the new first year residents as well as providing an opportunity for the more senior residents in Massachusetts to get together in a fun environment, including their spouses. The potential venue is Jillians on Landsdowne Street; MM will investigate the cost for hiring room, facilities, food&drink. A weekday (Thursday, 6th or 13th of July 2000) was selected. The event should begin after work (6pm) and end around 9pm. The event should be free for residents; possibility of funding from MRS will be discussed.
3. Upcoming RFS Business Meeting
Scheduling of the upcoming next RFS meeting was discussed. A date in late July or early August seems appropriate. At that point issues like the previously discussed possibility of attempting to improve the pubic perception of Radiology, fellowship application process, upcoming fall forum etc. can be discussed with hopefully large group of new RFS members. MMS HQ as a permanent location for the MRS RFS business meetings was recommended. MMS RFS had a poor experience with alternating the meeting venue between Waltham and locations in town.
4. Upcoming MRS RFS Dinner at town location
Peter Gordon suggested having a dinner at the Harvard Club in town at the beginning of the academic year to which representatives from each program in Massachusetts would be selected and sent by their respective program directors. The dinner would be funded by MRS and should provide an opportunity for key residents from each program to get aquainted with each other and strengthen future cooperation/involvement. Such a dinner has been held with great success in 1998.
Members of the group suggested that ideally the program directors would identify an interested first and second year resident to participate in the evening rather than a chief/senior resident who may not be with the program for much longer. It will have to be established whether there is enough funding to invite two representatives per program. It was felt that in the case of limited funding it was more important to have two people per program than to dine at a very expensive venue. Alternatives for the Harvard Club could be investigated.
5. Website
CW reported on the latest website updates performed last week. Davina Pallone from designwrench information arts will be in touch when website counter function is available to monitor traffic to the website/subsites. For a fee of between $250-500 an electronic registration tool could be developed for future use by MRS and MRS RFS, which would allow website users to electronically register for membership. Data would be forwarded to the membership administrator in database format (excel or access). Flyers for the upcoming forum are available for download in PDF format from the website. Possibility of including a link to “Aunt Minnie” was discussed.
The meeting was adjourned at 9pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by CW.