RSNA Press Release

OAK BROOK, Ill. (February 13, 2012) — Radiologist Anne C. Roberts, M.D., from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, will bring her medical expertise to Nepal 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. Roberts, professor of radiology and chief of vascular and interventional radiology at UCSD Thornton Hospital, will be joined by two fellow radiologists as she embarks February 14 on the 13-day trip. She will spend her visit giving presentations and teaching intensive seminars to radiology residents, as well as attending conferences and meetings.

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.

"The RSNA International Visiting Professor program allows American radiologists to understand some of the issues facing radiologists and other physicians in an entirely different healthcare environment," Dr. Roberts said. "Hopefully, we can contribute some ideas regarding some of the techniques we have developed in the U.S., and how some of these could be used to modify healthcare in Nepal."

Dr. Roberts will begin her trip attending the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Congress of Radiology at the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan. In Kathmandu, Dr. Roberts will visit the Tribhuvan Teaching Hospital and the National Academy of Medical Sciences. She will conclude her trip visiting the Universal College of Medical Sciences in Bhairahawa. While overseas she and the others plan to gain a better understanding of Nepal's training program and communicate their knowledge of U.S. practices in hopes of strengthening the radiology profession across the world.

Dr. Roberts will be accompanied by Young H. Kim, M.D., from the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, and Kambiz Motamedi, M.D., from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The International Visiting Professor Program was founded in 1986 and is administered by RSNA's Committee on International Relations and Education. This program is supported by Fujifilm Medical Systems.

RSNA is an association of more than 48,000 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)