This is the end of the year for me, as another birthday looms. From the academic standpoint, , this chronobiological landmark is of value as it enforces the need to renew one’s CME for the purpose of medical license renewal. Like many other things in life, the need to follow a regulation actually serves a significant positive benefit, and I am therefore happy to do online CME on topics like Quality in Radiology, MRI of Sports Injuries in young athletes (this is of personal significance as well) and a surprisingly interesting one on the topic of Risk
Management. I guess I am fortunate that learning remains fun for me at the ripe old age of 52, just as much fun as teaching.
The other thing that remains fun for me is attending conferences and rubbing shoulders with the radiologic glitterati. In a recent near-manic expedition, I flew halfway across the globe from Palma Mallorca, abandoning an idyllic family vacation, to keep a commitment to speak at the Radiology Asia Conference in Singapore. My talk and the ensuing panel discussion were a lot of fun, but the icing on the cake was mingling with the academic powerhouses who were present, namely “The Don” Resnick, Dr Jim Smirniotopoulos of AFIP fame, and the gravelly voiced and uber cool Californian Dr Michael Brant Zawadzki. My only previous encounter with the Don as I recalled to him was seeing him on stage in the early 2000s at the RSNA film panel doing the Macarena dance along with all the other panelists, prompted by the moderator, something you can only dream of seeing at a US conference. With Dr Smirniotopoulos my recollection as I shared with him was that of his lecture at the AFIP in 1997 (the year my daughter was born) in which he mentioned the Reuben sandwich, which I so furiously focused on understanding the composition of, that I totally missed the related radiologic allusion.
What else in the recent past? Tennis-related visits to the towns of Casablanca and Marrakesh, which live up to their reputation as exotic and mysterious locations where time goes by or doesn’t.
And of course, the inspirational La Decima by the incomparable Rafael Nadal, who makes one realize that no matter what one does, it doesn’t matter how good one is at it, it is always possible to get even better, and that there is no limit to human effort.