RSNA Press Release

CHICAGO — Gary J. Becker, M.D., was named president-elect of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Board of Directors today at the Society's annual meeting in Chicago.

Dr. Becker is a professor in vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Effective January 1, 2008, he will assume the responsibility of executive director of the American Board of Radiology (ABR). He was elected to the ABR Board of Trustees in 2000; since 2006 he has served as its associate executive director for diagnostic radiology and subspecialties.

As RSNA president-elect, Dr. Becker hopes to continue his efforts to ensure the Society's role as a leader in supporting new imaging technologies. "RSNA has the ability to lead the charge as new technologies emerge," he said. "From minimally invasive therapies, to molecular imaging, to quantitative imaging, it is RSNA's responsibility to pursue the best in science and research."

Dr. Becker earned his medical degree in 1977 from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He also completed an internship in internal medicine and his residency there. Soon after, he was appointed assistant professor, associate professor and, ultimately, professor and chief of the vascular section in the Department of Radiology.

In 1990, he accepted a position as director of interventional radiology at the Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute of Miami, Florida, where in 1998 he became assistant medical director, as well as medical director of research and outcomes. In June 2004, Dr. Becker went on to become the branch chief of image-guided intervention in the Cancer Imaging Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He remained with the NCI for the next year and a half, before finding a new home in Arizona.

Dr. Becker has served on the editorial boards of many medical publications and contributed as a manuscript reviewer for many more. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Vascular & Interventional Radiology and was its editor-in-chief from 1990 to 1995. He has also been an active member of approximately two dozen professional medical organizations. He is a fellow of the Society of Interventional Radiology and the American College of Radiology.

Dr. Becker's leadership at RSNA began with an appointment to the Refresher Course Committee, followed by the Society's Public Information Advisory Board and Planning Committee for the Office of Research Development. He served on various research development committees and, between 1994 and 1998, was on the RSNA Research & Education Foundation's Distinguished Roster of Grant Reviewers. At RSNA annual meetings over the years, he was a speaker for two Opening Sessions, served on the panel of an Image Interpretation Session and, in 2000, delivered the Annual Oration in Diagnostic Radiology. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2001 and served as chairman of the Board in 2007.

Dr. Becker will serve as president of RSNA in 2009.

Note: Copies of RSNA 2007 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press07 beginning Monday, Nov. 26.

RSNA is an association of more than 41,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to excellence in patient care through education and research. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)