Headline News

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is with great pleasure that we write this joint President’s report and letter for our valued membership! It is an exciting time for our Society. The breadth and depth of the Society’s activities have grown immensely and there are exciting upcoming future events and new initiatives. Our ASPNR committees are working diligently to grow our Society’s reach by providing excellent educational content to all those interested in pediatric neuroimaging, facilitating inter-societal collaborations, and engaging new members. We are now close to having our 2^nd Annual ASPNR Meeting, January 10 -12, 2020 in Miami Beach, Florida. 

Inaugural ASPNR Meeting

The first ever scientific meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology was held in New Orleans, January 18 -20, 2019 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the French Quarter. Our inaugural meeting was organized by the Program Chair Dr. Susan Palasis with the help of many dedicated committee members. The meeting was a great success with close to 400 national and international registrants in attendance. The program was all-encompassing with a large variety of interesting pediatric neuroradiology lecture topics, rapid-fire case presentations, interesting cases of the day, and sponsored breakfast/lunch learning sessions. We received an unexpected and inspiringly large number of scientific and educational abstract submissions on a wide variety of topics related to pediatric neuroimaging. To complement the rich educational activities was a fun Opening Cocktail Reception and a Gala Jazz Cruise Dinner on the Mississippi River where the pediatric neuroimaging community could all come together. We thank all our supportive members and generous corporate partners that helped us establish our Society’s first scientific meeting!

Upcoming 2^nd Annual Meeting of the ASPNR

We are very excited to announce that the 2nd Annual ASPNR Meeting is on track and promises to be another winner with an educationally stimulating and mentally rewarding program under the capable leadership of Dr. Michelle Silvera. The meeting will be held Friday, January 10 to Sunday, January 12, 2020 on the oceanfront premises of the exquisite Art Deco landmark Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel in Florida. This highly educational program is designed to keep you up to date with all things related to pediatric neuroradiology. Expect a broad range of basic core lectures and specialized talks from expert speakers on pediatric neuroimaging and advances in a variety of areas including metabolic, fetal, perinatal, developmental, epilepsy, tumor, demyelinating, spine disorders, and more. There will also be a variety of updates on recent scientific advances and innovations through oral and poster presentations. The Call for Abstracts is open so send your submissions by September 23, 2019. Great-value Eden Roc hotel rates are also available to you for before and after the meeting. A culturally and gastronomically stimulating Insider’s Art Tour of Miami is organized for Thursday, January 9, 2020 for those arriving early. Space is limited so reserve tickets soon as they are selling fast! A complimentary Friday night Opening Cocktail Reception will be held on the beautiful hotel premises. Saturday’s Gala Dinner will be held on a brand new super sleek yacht that will be waiting for us in front of the Eden Roc to take us on a magical cruise of Biscayne Bay.

Discounted meeting registration rates are available for current ASPNR Society members. 

Call for Nominations for the Office of Treasurer and Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee

The ASPNR is soliciting names of candidates for nominations for the office of the treasurer and also for a member-at-large of the executive committee of the society. Nominees must be members in good standing of the ASPNR. The treasurer will sequentially ascend to the positions of secretary, vice-president and president of the society. The member-at-large will become a member of the executive committee of the ASPNR. 

Call for Nominations: Gold Medal Award

ASPNR’s Gold Medal Award is awarded on the basis of both professional and personal excellence, honoring individuals who are superb pediatric neuroradiologists, scientists, and/or physicians, and mentors and who also are truly outstanding people. Recipients have consistently extended themselves beyond self-interest to make contributions to the field of pediatric neuroradiology and as such, have elevated our subspecialty. This medal recognizes the exceptional service and achievements of these individuals. The list of prior recipients can be found here.

ASPNR Programming at the 57^th Annual ASNR Meeting in Boston

In conjunction with the ASNR, we had several pediatric programming sessions at ASNR’s Annual Meeting in Boston in May 18-23, 2019. In addition to multiple scientific pediatric paper sessions, there were four dedicated pediatric lecture sessions during the meeting, developed by the ASPNR’s Program Lead Dr. Arastoo Vossough. The topics were chosen based on the results of the ASPNR membership survey conducted by Dr. Arastoo Vossough on behalf of the ASPNR the previous year. The sessions included neonatal imaging in collaboration with the European Society of Neuroradiology, leukodystrophies and neurometabolic disorders, and various other requested pediatric topics for the general radiologist or adult neuroradiologist. The ASPNR Challenging Pediatric Cases session was again featured with real-time audience response interactions with the audience. A separately planned session focused on brain connectivity in children was also featured during the meeting’s symposium.

ASPNR Promo Party at the ASNR Meeting in Boston

This was a one-of-a-kind spectacular fundraising event organized by our own creatively talented Dr. Paul Caruso from MGH! The ASPNR Promo Party took place during the May 2019 ASNR meeting in Boston. Our loyal corporate sponsors, generous donors who offered their time, resources, and money to help fight pediatric CNS disease, and fun-loving ASPNR members made this an evening to remember. The venue was spectacular, the food and drinks were delectable, and the dance music was irresistible. The proceeds were donated to support the ASPNR annual meeting efforts. Stay tuned for the ASPNR Promo Party in Las Vegas at next year’s ASNR meeting!

2019 Derek Harwood-Nash Award Recipient

The 2019 Derek-Harwood Nash award for best pediatric scientific abstract at the 2019 ASNR meeting went to Shiva Shahrampour, MS from Thomas Jefferson University:

1. Shahrampour, B. De Leener, D. Middleton, K. Jonnavithula, M. Alizadeh, H. Pediyakkal, L. Krisa, A. Flanders, S. Faro, J. Cohen-Adad, F. Mohamed. Development of a Standardized Normative Pediatric Spinal Cord structural template: Demonstration of an automatic estimation of Spinal Cord Cross Sectional Area measurements (SCCSA)

This was a multi-institutional collaborative project involving multiple centers in the United States and Canada. Congratulations on excellent work!

ASPNR Pediatric Neuroradiology Research Grant

This year’s ASPNR research grant was awarded to Dr. Rupa Radhakrishnan from Indiana University and Riley Hospital for Children for her proposal “Effect of Pre-eclamptic Milieu on Neonatal Brain Perfusion, Growth and Function”. Many applications were submitted and reviewed by the ASPNR research committee, chaired by Dr. Orit Glenn from UCSF. We thank all the members of the research committee for their time and effort. The next round of the research grant application’s process will start later in 2019. Your generous donations are critical in being able to maintain this important mission of the ASPNR in promoting neuroimaging advances in children. Your donations can easily be made at any time or at the time of membership renewal on our donation page.

Other Meeting and Society Activities

The ASPNR is proud to support pediatric programming at the ASNR and other regional and sub-specialty neuroradiology society meetings. We collaborate annually in joint programming with the European Society of Neuroradiology and with the Society of Pediatric Radiology. Our goal is to continue to increase ASPNR collaborations, with mutual educational benefits for respective members that we hope will translate into improved pediatric diagnoses and patient care.

Website, Social Media, and Education

Dr. Michelle Silvera, the Chair of the Website and Social Media Committees, has been instrumental in overseeing the tremendous success of both committees. The ASPNR website is maintained, and frequently visited, thanks to the efforts of Dr. David Mirsky. The website includes frequent updates and contains a variety of resources including interesting cases, lectures, and links relevant to pediatric neuroradiology. Additionally, there is a classified section for staff and fellowship positions and information about relevant meetings, pediatric neuroradiology training programs, and societal information. During the past year, there has been tremendous growth of user’s engagement with ASPNR’s web site. Comparing yearly user statistics, we had over 20,900 visitors (116% increase over last year) and 110% increase in unique users. User from the top five countries visiting our website were the United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada, and Brazil, but users also came from many other countries throughout the world.

The ASPNR has also been quite active in its education and informational activities on various social media platforms, with multiple society volunteers and committee members posting valuable content, under the guidance of Dr. Laura Hayes. Our social media presence has grown tremendously in a very short time and the high engagement is reflective of growing interest in pediatric neuroradiology. We now have 2,239 followers on Twitter (June 2018 was 1,054), 1416 followers on Instagram (June 2018 was 405), and 1,649 followers on Facebook (June 2018 was 624). The Twitter feed also includes educational case presentations with follow-up answers linked to our website.

Thank you, Michelle, David, Laura, and all dedicated committee members, for your tireless engagement and enthusiasm!

Membership

Our membership has skyrocketed, and we now have over 500 total members! Members are from all regions of North America and many are from other countries. Please encourage your neuroradiology and pediatric radiology colleagues and trainees to become members of the ASPNR! Members receive discounted registration to the annual ASPNR meeting, may serve and vote on ASPNR committees, and have broad opportunities for networking. Your continued support and participation is vital to the ongoing educational efforts of the Society and pediatric neuroradiology in general. Please renew your membership, and at the time of renewal, please consider donating to the ASPNR research fund so we can continue to provide the annual ASPNR grant in pediatric neuroradiology research!

Looking Forward

The outlook for the ASPNR and the field of pediatric neuroradiology is brilliant! The fulfilling and challenging field of pediatric neuroimaging is growing by leaps and bounds. Our membership is at an all-time high. Our Society is financially strong and shows continued healthy growth. We see an increasing trend in interest in our field and dedicated specialization in the neuroimaging care for children.

With the ASPNR’s Executive Committee’s decision to hold annual ASPNR meetings in January of each year, the Society’s educational and business meeting calendar was changed. As a result, an adjustment to the 12-month ASPNR presidency term during this transition was implemented. The shared extended two presidency terms during this transitional year is ending for the outgoing President Dr. Arastoo Vossough and starting for the incoming President Dr. Laurence Eckel at the time of this mailing. In addition, the ASPNR’s annual business meetings will now be conducted at the annual ASPNR meetings in January of each year.

Finally, we want to sincerely thank all the committee volunteers who help run the many important and necessary activities of our Society. Please continue to volunteer and stay in contact. We love to hear from you! Without your support and feedback, we would not be realizing our successes as a Society. On behalf of the ASPNR, we would like to wish you a very happy rest of the summer and see you in January!

Sincerely,

Arastoo Vossough, MD, PhD and Laurence Eckel, MD