RANZCR: Abdominal News: ARGANZ

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) Inside News June 2020

Abdominal Radiology Group of Australia and New Zealand (ARGANZ)

The ARGANZ executive was disappointed to cancel the 2020 ARGANZ meeting scheduled for March this year. We had record registrations of over 360 delegates and were all excited by the program and chance to catch up with colleagues. We are delighted many of the scientific posters were delivered online and can still be viewed on our website: www.arganz.org

The 2021 meeting will now be held in Brisbane, with further details regarding international speakers to be confirmed in the post COVID-19 world. It will once again be a stimulating program.

During the past year ARGANZ has been busy focusing on our three pillars of Education & Research, Collaboration and Advocacy.

Past meeting lectures continue to be popular, including the time limited access to European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) e-learning.

We have added a wider range of scan protocols and published a list of abdomino-pelvic fellowships available across the two countries. To further support our members, ARGANZ is pleased to announce education and research grants, which will be available from the second half of 2020. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates.

Over the coming year we will be developing focus groups within ARGANZ to connect people who have interest in areas including research, particular diseases and techniques.

This will make it easier to share ideas and to assist in advocacy where ARGANZ provides feedback to RANZCR and other groups. A recent successful example was the bringing together of radiologists from within and outside ARGANZ to create an ARGANZ position statement on the use of CTC in Covid-19.

We are currently working with RANZCR, the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA) and the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSSANZ) to push for broadening of CTC Medicare eligibility. Please contact us at admin@arganz.org if you are interested in becoming involved.

2020 has seen further discussion with the Society of Abdominal Radiology (SAR) on ways to collaborate. One opportunity is to involve ANZ radiologists in the SAR ‘Disease-Focused Panels’, which currently include representatives from other continents.

I would like to sincerely thank the executive; Joe Feltham, Sonja Gustafson, Gabes Lau, James Seow, Sarah Skinner and Tom Sutherland, for their tireless work in ARGANZ matters.

It has been a great privilege to serve as Chair of ARGANZ for the last three years and see the group continue to grow. A/Prof Tom Sutherland will become the new Chair on 1 July 2020 and I wish him the very best.

Dr Kirsten Gormly, Chair ARGANZ

Education & Research • Collaboration • Advocacy