NEW ORLEANS - Themes of building and rebuilding were omnipresent during the Annual Meeting of the SNM here in June.

Indeed, the meeting program was entitled "Molecular Imaging: Build on the Past, Define the Future" and the first plenary session focused on the theme of "If you build it, they will come" from the movie "Field of Dreams."

This may have been inspired by the massive rebuilding effort that continues in New Orleans, which was devastated by flooding after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Warm memories of the SNM meeting held here in 2003 prompted some society members to give back to the city. For instance, on the day before the meeting started, SNM and SNMTS members joined radiopharmaceutical supplier IBA Molecular in working with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild a home destroyed by the flooding, according to Nanci Burchell, past-president of the SNMTS. The SNMTS also took time during its plenary session to present a check for $1,500 to the United Blood Services, and sponsored a blood drive.

Hundreds of abstracts

Meanwhile the SNM and SMTS continue to build toward the future. The nearly 300 abstract reviewers sorted through more than 2,100 submitted abstracts, choosing more than 1,600 for presentation at the meeting, said Frederic H. Fahey DSc, chair of the scientific program committee. In addition to poster sessions, there were 88 scientific, five technologist and three student technologist oral sessions. The approximately 6,000 attendees could also choose from 12 pre-conference categorical seminars, three basic scientific summary sessions, and about 80 physician and scientist continuing education sessions. These included a new oncology clinical diagnosis track and a "Novel Approaches to Molecular Imaging" track designed to cover new molecular imaging techniques that don't fit existing categories.

"We invite you to attend these sessions to see how these approaches augment what we do in molecular imaging," Dr. Fahey said.

Opening Plenary

 During the opening plenary Richard Wahl, MD, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, addressed both the promise of molecular imaging and its obstacles during his Henry N. Wagner Jr. Lectureship. Using the movie "Field of Dreams" as inspiration, Dr. Wahl said that in the molecular imaging field of dreams, the questions are: can you build it; will "they" know about it; will "they" want it and will "they, or anyone, pay for and if so will the payment be sufficient."

Showing some of the new research, Dr. Wahl proved that it was indeed possible to build with adequate support and infrastructure.

"As far as radiopharmaceuticals, we need access to reliable reactors and also to alpha emitters," Dr. Wahl said. "We also need to make sure that our field is visible to the public and that our colleagues are publishing in non-imaging journals, as well as imaging journals."

He also noted that the public needs to be shown the benefits nuclear medicine can bring to healthcare by helping to ensure that patients are benefiting from the most appropriate treatments. To ensure adequate reimbursement, advocacy efforts and economic research must concentrate on proving to the payers and the federal bureaucracy that molecular imaging provides a cost-effective way of helping to improve the healthcare system.

Following up on what was happening at two farms that had part of their fields used for the movie, Dr. Wahl found that declining attendance since the 1989 film, along with a rise in the price of corn and soybeans, had almost caused the field, a tourist attraction, to be converted back into farmland. A compromise, however, allowed continuation of the attraction.

"So the field of dreams is still there, and doing well. I hope that our nuclear medicine field of dreams remains as well," Dr. Wahl concluded. 

SNMTS

During the technologist plenary session, outgoing SNMTS president David Gilmore, MS, CNMT, outlined work the SNMTS has been doing to build for the future, including the creation of an advanced practice option for technologists, scheduled to begin sometime in 2009 at the University of Arkansas for the Sciences in Little Rock. Graduates of this program will hold the title of  "Nuclear Medicine Advanced Associate." Meanwhile, the society is busy working on educational issues leading to the proposed Bachelor's level for entry into basic nuclear medicine practice, scheduled to take effect in 2015. This extension of the educational programs is necessitated by the need to include additional courses in CT, MR and possibly optical imaging, as the nuclear medicine community continues to embrace fusion technology. Indeed, this year the technologist section included a track on MR-101 for the Nuclear Medicine Technologist to its continuing education sessions.

To help with some of the educational costs for those wishing to advance in the nuclear medicine field, the SNMTS Education and Research Fund has increased the number of scholarships, including some for those wishing to work on master's level courses. In addition, the SNMTS conducts a leadership academy aimed at helping technologists interested in participation in the governance of the technologist section learn the skills necessary to be successful.

This year, the installation of the new SNMTS officers, including Mark Wallenmeyer, MBA, CNMT, incoming SNMTS president, followed a reception announcing the Nuclear Medicine Advanced Associate Degree, instead of during the business meeting. The President's Distinguished Service Awards and the awards for Outstanding Educator and Outstanding Technologist were also given at this time, while the awards for technologist and technologist student papers and posters were presented at the SNMTS business meeting on Tuesday.

At the technologist plenary session, speaker Jo Huey, MSS, administrator of a New Orleans facility for patients with Alzheimer's disease, discussed her experiences evacuating patients during Hurricane Katrina, and what that taught her about being prepared for emergencies.

Joyce Ward is the senior technical editor at ADVANCE. She can be reached at jward@advanceweb.com.