RSNA Press Release

OAK BROOK, Ill. (September 2, 2008) - Giovanna Casola, M.D., from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center in La Jolla, will bring her medical expertise to Mexico as part of the International Visiting Professor Program offered by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The program fosters international relations among radiology societies to assist with medical education in developing and newly developed nations.

Dr. Casola, professor of radiology at UCSD, will be joined by one other fellow radiologist as she embarks Sept. 6 on the nine-day trip. She will spend her visit giving presentations and teaching intensive seminars to members of Mexico's radiology societies and hospital radiology departments.

The program is mutually beneficial. The visiting team of radiologists informs local doctors and hospitals about the latest advances in diagnostic and therapeutic radiology. In turn, the visiting professors experience firsthand the obstacles faced by medical professionals in the host countries.

"I am very excited about going to Mexico City, since as a close neighbor this exchange will be even more meaningful," Dr. Casola said. "This interaction promotes camaraderie and an exchange of knowledge."

Dr. Casola is accompanied by Theodore J. Dubinsky, M.D., of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

The International Visiting Professors Program was founded in 1986 and is administered by RSNA's Committee on International Relations and Education (CIRE).

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)

The RSNA Committee on International Relations and Education was established in 1986 to advise the RSNA on how the Society might provide international assistance to enhance radiologic education in countries requesting and requiring assistance. (RSNA.org/International/CIRE)