Another summer visit to the US has come to an end and I write this on the flight back home as I reflect on the trip.
The trip was a hectic one as they typically tend to be. It began in Philadelphia where it included a resident conference to the residents at Albert Einstein Medical Center, one of our oldest clients, followed by a pizza lunch with them, and a meeting with the Department Chair, Dr Matalon. The residents are a fun group and it is always pleasant to chat with them and learn what the new residency experiences are like, including the recent changes in the Board exam modules (feedback is positive). I also visited other clients in the area and it was a pleasure to be complimented on the quality of our reports, with one of them showing me a case where our radiologist detected a subtle colovesical fistula, which came in for high praise by the group.
My next visit to a client in Missouri was timely and productive despite Murphy’s Law being in full force, with a cancelled flight resulting in a rerouting and a lost suitcase at O’Hare, and a crazed night drive through the Ozarks to make it to an 8 AM meeting on time, stopping en route to buy a shirt and tie. This being my first visit to this client was particularly special as it was the first connect for both sides, and created a very pleasant bond. A number of items got discussed and addressed. Although most of our interactions in the teleradiology space happen remotely intermittent face to face meetings are necessary and extremely productive.
Next I got to spend a couple of days in the Windy City, where one of our clients was kind enough to take me on a brief and interesting historic tour of the Wicker Park neighbourhood in Chicago where Al Capone executed his enemies in the infamous Valentine Day massacre. Although I visit Chicago every year during RSNA, I never leave McCormick place (partly because of the meeting and partly the weather), so this was my first time actually seeing these hospitals and meeting their staff, and it was great.
And the final leg of my trip was to Montreal for the ASNR meeting. This year the president of ASNR is Dr Gordon Sze, who was my chief and mentor at Yale, and he had invited me to moderate a session on ‘Making a Scientific Presentation’. The session was excellent and the conference fabulous – I reconnected with many of my former colleagues from Yale and elsewhere and signed up speakers for our e-lecture series. I also attended some superb lectures by speakers like Dr Anne Osborn, saw some great exhibits and learnt several new things. Montreal is a lovely city and some great weather and spectacular crepes made for a memorable end to my visit.