Radiological Society of North America
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) was founded in 1915 to advance and develop the highest standards in radiology and related sciences in teaching and research . 48,000 radiologists, employees in the X-ray departments, technicians and industry representatives are currently members of the RSNA (as of 2012).
The RSNA publishes the journals Radiology and RadioGraphics . Since 1919, it has awarded up to three gold medals annually to people who have made outstanding contributions to radiological science.
The "RSNA", the world's largest and most important annual radiology congress in Chicago, is named after the organization that organizes it . This takes place in the week after Thanksgiving , i.e. from the last weekend in November.
RSNA is based in Oak Brook , Illinois.
history
In 1900 the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) was founded with the aim of promoting and developing radiology. In the same year, 150 members from physics, research, development and industry met in New York to exchange scientific findings and present X-ray machines. The annual congresses of the fast-growing society took place only on the east coast of the United States, so that members from the American Midwest felt ignored.
Thus, in 1915, many members discussed the establishment of a radiological society with a central conference location. In the same year, 62 radiologists founded a new professional society under the name Western Roentgen Society and held their first meeting in Chicago. The approval of this new foundation was already evident during the following congress in St. Louis in 1916, when 40 new members could be won in two days. In 1919 the Western Roentgen Society already had more than 500 members, published the first specialist radiological magazine and organized the first annual industrial exhibition with 19 exhibitors. A large number of the members no longer only came from the Midwest, but also from the east coast of the USA and Canada. The success of the professional society made it clear that the designation as Western Roentgen Society was no longer applicable and it was decided to rename it to Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) .
By 1929 the RSNA had developed into one of the most important forums for the exchange of scientific knowledge in the field of radiology in America.
The onset of the Great Depression , however, caused financial bottlenecks for radiologists as well and nearly ended the work of the RSNA. The most severe crisis to date could only be overcome by rationalizing its own resources and making financial arrangements with other radiological societies for project funding.
The Second World War brought an upswing again, as it was precisely here that it became clear how important diagnostic imaging is for the treatment of wounded soldiers. In the course of this, there were significant technological developments, which were finally established in the civil sector. The importance of the RSNA grew thanks to these developments, so that in the 1950s, radiologists from the southwest of the USA and Mexico could be won as members for the first time. However, the increasing number of members presented the radiological specialist society with new challenges, as the previous conference locations no longer offered sufficient space to receive all congress participants. With over 4,000 members, they moved to the Palmer House in Chicago in 1972 , which was the only one that could offer a decent and inexpensive exhibition space for the annual congresses. The RSNA should never move to another city again.
With 11500 participants from all parts of the world, 183 scientific presentations, 72 lectures, eight scientific exhibitions and an industrial exhibition on an area of 4000 m², the 1974 congress became the largest medical conference in the world. At this time, the RSNA also began to set up its own library for further training purposes, which was expanded annually by the results of the congresses.
With this event of superlatives, the Palmer House was soon overwhelmed and those responsible at RSNA decided to move to McCormick Place Chicago, where the congress took place for the first time in November 1975 with 12,192 visitors and is still taking place today. By 1988 the number of participants was to rise to over 40,000, which clearly sets the RSNA Congress apart from other medical conferences and industrial exhibitions. In 1993, the RSNA deepened its efforts to support radiologists and scientists in research and development with the opening of its own learning and further education center and the establishment of the Office of Research Development (ORD). The invention of the Internet also opened up new opportunities for RSNA to exchange information and communicate with other radiologists around the world. During the 1994 congress the company presented its first own website and enabled visitors to send pictures of the north wing of McCormick Place to the south wing via the boarding school. In addition, all conference results have been posted on the Internet since 1997 so that radiologists around the world have access to them. In 1996 the mark was reached by more than 61,000 conference visitors. The event has thus also become an important economic factor for Chicago and flushes over 100 million US dollars into the city's economy every year.
With the inauguration of the new 9400 m² headquarters in Oak Brook (Illinois) in 1998, which was later expanded to include a conference center for workshops, and the establishment of the Research & Education Foundation to promote education and training, the RSNA underlined at the beginning of the new millennium their efforts to constantly expand their own educational offer. In 2007, the Radiological Society of North America had 62,501 members, of which 8,792 were not from the United States or Canada. During the RSNA congress in McCormick Place Chicago over 230 refresher courses and 120 multi-sessions were offered, as well as over 1800 scientific presentations and at the accompanying industrial exhibition 757 exhibitors presented their new developments on almost 50,000 m² of exhibition space.