Calamante: Nothing compares to in-person congresses

Online meetings are a bit like comparing a recording of a concert of your favorite band with going to see them play live, Fernando Calamante, PhD, the new president of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), told ISMRM members on May 20.

"While virtual meetings are excellent, nothing compares with being there at the meeting," he wrote in a blog. "Even though we are by no means out of the woods, the optimistic side in me says that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that London 2022 will finally see us once again face to face."

Fernando Calamante, PhD.

Calamante plans to "fly the international flag" as ISMRM president and "bring further international flavor to the ISMRM leadership." He is the director of Sydney Imaging, the biomedical imaging Core Research Facility at the University of Sydney, and a professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering. He studied physics in Argentina, and he obtained his PhD in MRI from University College London in 2000.

"As the first 'rest-of-the-world' president, I will do my best to increase the presence of the ISMRM in underrepresented regions, to help so that more people can benefit from the amazing things the ISMRM has to offer," noted Calamante, adding that the 2021 annual meeting attracted more than 5,500 registrants and around 4,400 accepted abstracts.

The joint annual meeting of the ISMRM and the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology will take place in London from May 7-12, 2022. For updates, check the organizer's website.