Past AAPM President: 2009 (2023)

While I was the 2009 AAPM President, I was Professor of Radiology, the Committee on Medical Physics, and the College at the University of Chicago as well as the Director of the Graduate Programs in Medical Physics/Chair of the University's Committee on Medical Physics. At the university, I was engaged in computer-aided diagnosis/artificial intelligence (CAD/AI) research and in teaching in the medical physics graduate program. My main AAPM volunteer roles prior to becoming AAPM President included serving as Scientific Program Director of the AAPM Annual Meeting, as an AAPM Board member, and as the AAPM Treasurer. My contributions while serving on the AAPM executive chain included (a) creating ad hoc committees on what I saw were next steps for AAPM and (b) actively participating in the establishment of education requirements through CAMPEP summits. As President-elect of AAPM, one meets with AAPM groups to determine potential needs of the association, mainly through meeting with the various Councils. For example, at Science Council I learned about the need for technology assessment, a component of clinical effectiveness. Thus, as President, I established the ad hoc Committee on the Establishment of a Technology Assessment Institute, which ultimately became the Technology Assessment Committee (TAC), currently a standing committee under Science Council, which is responsible for technology assessment efforts of AAPM, including assessments of imaging and therapy technologies, and other activities that enhance the research potential and quality assessment capabilities of medical physicists. I also presented AAPM comments at the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research Listening Session on May 13, 2009. I noted that technology assessment studies are a subset of comparative effectiveness studies, the reach of comparative effectiveness includes both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and systems, and medical physicists play a vital role in conducting such studies (http://www.aapm.org/publicgeneral/ComparativeEffectiveness.asp). On the topic of education, during the CAMPEP summits, I strongly voiced the importance of having rigorous didactic medical physics coursework within CAMPEP-accredited PhD programs, leaving clinical training to medical physics residency programs. It was during this time that I also worked with others to develop the CAMPEP certificate programs. The 2009 AAPM annual meeting was held in Anaheim, CA, where I invited Ian Foster to present at the President's Symposium on the use of high-performance computer in innovative ways, forecasting the future. The Night Out was a Beach Party at the Arena Plaza outside the Anaheim Convention Center, complete with a molded wave! My time as President of AAPM was very rewarding as I learned much and hopefully advanced the organization, and I am still honored and humbled to have been allowed this opportunity. I highly recommend it! I met new colleagues, made new friends, expanded my knowledge, increased my influence and network, and traveled, meeting international medical physicists. As president, I acquired confidence and leadership skills, skills that I have repeatedly utilized as I moved through life; specifically, as I took on other leadership roles such as being contact PI of MIDRC (midrc.org).