Annual Meeting: Your Best Educational and Networking Opportunity All Year

Frances Neagley, CNMT, FSNMTS Editor, JNMT

Spring is here and it is always a busy season for the SNM and SNMTS. The annual meeting is this month, and many of us are busy preparing presentations and posters or electing to help with moderator and judging duties. There is always so much to do before and during this meeting that it is easy to forget what a great educational and networking opportunity this is. I always look forward to seeing old friends and hopefully meeting new ones.

I try to sit in on many of the technologist and student paper sessions so I can encourage the presenters to expand their work and submit it to the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology. Each year I am impressed with the work that is being done in our profession.

In addition, I try to spend a little time in the SNM booth in the exhibit hall so that I can meet some of the other attendees. And, of course, I try to attend a few educational sessions so I can maintain my certifications.

It is a pretty hectic week but one I heartily recommend to everyone who can find even a couple of days to attend. The governance meetings prior to the scientific programs offer a look at how this mostly volunteer organization works.

This meeting in particular marks a bittersweet moment in my tenure as editor of the JNMT. By the time the SNMTS meets next year, a new editor will have been chosen and that person will begin working with me for the remainder of that year. Applications and information on the qualifications for the editor position are available and can be obtained by contacting Susan Alexander (salexand{at}snm.org) in the Communications Department at the SNM. I am certainly willing to talk to any interested person about my experience as editor of the JNMT.

We have a pretty good issue this month, with a number of scientific articles along with reports from the SNMTS leadership, the NMTCB, the JRCNMT, ICANL, and the NCOR, as well as the technologist abstracts for the annual meeting. Unfortunately, we do not have a continuing education article. I understand the importance of continuing education credits and the effort that has to go into preparing an article of this importance. Both Elpida Crawford, the CE editor, and I remain committed to the goal of at least 1 continuing education article in each issue. We hope that each of you will help us in the identification of possible topics and authors for future issues.

Although I may receive only 1 comment (e-mail or otherwise) for each issue of the JNMT, I truly appreciate hearing from the readership. In addition, I have been most impressed by the number of technologists who have come forward to help review submissions to the JNMT. When I first became editor over 3 years ago, there were fewer than 40 reviewers identified as technologists. Today that number, while still small, has almost tripled. I continue to advocate this as one of the many ways one can become involved in the profession of nuclear medicine technology.

Once again, I remind each and every one of you that this is your profession and your professional journal. I welcome and will respond to every comment or suggestion. As usual, I can be reached at fneagley{at}pacbell.net.