Features
New Chair of the College’s Clinical Radiology Research Committee Professor Paul Parizel Professor Paul Parizel was appointed as the inaugural David Hartley Chair in Radiology, based at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), in September 2019. The chair was established by the University of Western Australia to improve clinical governance, education and research, and to develop closer ties within the medical professions and also with the wider community of WA. Born and raised in the historic city of Antwerp, Belgium, he completed his medical school education at the University of Antwerp before working at the Antwerp University Hospital and undertaking Fellowships at centres of international renown including at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
In 2002, during the Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Adelaide, I became an Honorary Fellow of the College and served as Kodak visiting professor. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I had always been thinking how nice it would be to work in Australia and share my professional experience with younger colleagues. There is a famous quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that states that “life is a journey, not a destination”. To travel successfully on the journey of Life, one needs an ambitious plan, a steady compass, and—importantly—the ability to avoid the doldrums and make good use of the prevailing winds.
In February, Prof Parizel was appointed as Chair of the College’s Clinical Radiology Research Committee (CRRC).
“Human interaction between professionals is the force that enables the transfer of knowledge, and the development of scientific collaboration, and the College is an essential catalyst to drive these processes.”
When did you move to Australia and why? I arrived in Perth, WA on Sunday 22 September 2019, which happened to be my birthday. I had signed my contract more than a year earlier, but it took a very long time to get all the red tape sorted out. In fact, there were times that I was not even sure if I would ever succeed in getting all the documents together. My reasons for coming to Australia were manifold. For more than 30 years, I have been friends with Professor Mark Khangure, and thanks to him, I’ve had the occasion to visit Perth several times, and always was impressed by the high professional and ethical standards of radiology in Australia.
In Europe, I finished my terms as President (2017) and Chairman of the Board (2018) of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), and as President of the European Congress of Radiology meeting in Vienna in 2017. It seemed
like a perfect moment to consider a new professional and personal challenge. And what better place to do so than in Perth, Western Australia, one of the nicest cities on the face of this earth?
How does your experience of radiology in Australia compare to your experience in Belgium? First of all, I would like to say that I am grateful for the opportunity to share some of my thoughts and visions with the readers of Inside News. There is an expression in French that says ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ (the more things change, the more they stay the same). In a way this holds true for working as a radiologist in Australia. Compared to Belgium, there are many similarities in the work we do, and in the organisation and structure of radiology departments. The technical platform at RPH is very similar to what I had in my department at Antwerp University Hospital. The patient population in a tertiary referral centre is very diverse, interesting, and, at times, challenging. RPH is unique in that we see many patients referred through the State Major Trauma Unit and the State Spinal and Scoliosis Service. However, a similarity between Australia and Belgian is the juxtaposition of a public health system and a private system, both with their specific and individual roles. Of course, there are also some differences in the type of examinations and protocols we perform, but overall I would say that the similarities are far, far greater than the differences. continued over... Volume 16 No 4 I September 2020
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