RSNA 2016 will feature several industry experts who will address those gathered in Chicago for the annual event. Here are a few of the presentations that you will not want to miss:

President's address Beyond imaging: Ensuring radiology's impact in clinical care and research
Sunday 8:30-10:15 a.m. Richard L. Baron, M.D., of Chicago

Radiologists have remarkably impacted radiology and medical care through their participation in developing and advancing the modern-day imaging modalities of CT, MRI, nuclear medicine and interventional image-guided therapies. Modern digital advances go beyond the amazing images themselves. The introduction of digital imaging communication and storage systems has enabled timely and impactful distribution of images that put medical imaging and radiologists at the forefront of clinical care 24 hours a day.



At the same time, this rise of information technology in medicine limits personal interactions between radiologists and clinicians, making collaboration between physicians difficult. While technologic imaging innovation continues to advance, the key to continuing radiology's success will lie in our dedication to delivering the best possible care to every patient. To do so, radiologists must think beyond the images they see in practice and stay abreast of advancing subspecialty medical knowledge, and more actively collaborate with referring physicians to improve patient outcomes. Meaningful continuing education and interactive training will be necessary to ensure radiologists are proficient at the subspecialty level required by an ever-increasing subspecialty approach in the medical community at large.

We must reach beyond imaging in radiologic research, building truly multidisciplinary teams to develop multicenter, multi-investigator prospective trials that impact outcomes for entire populations. Today's research will become tomorrow's clinical practice, requiring radiologists to develop and lead impactful clinical imaging research that will position us as an essential part of clinical care teams. And, above all, we must look beyond imaging to gain a broader perspective on the patient experience.

We have entered a new era in radiology and health care at large, driven by changes to reimbursement models and an emphasis on value in patient care delivery. Radiologists must produce examination reports that provide the solutions sought by patients and referring physicians rather than simply describing findings. Ultimately, we should strive to consistently deliver the right examination at the right time by the right radiologist, with the quality of the process and the report matching what we would expect for ourselves or our family members. In doing so, we will better serve our patients and our specialty as we navigate an ever-changing health care environment.


When machines think: Radiology's next frontier
Sunday 8:30-10:15 a.m. Keith J. Dreyer, DO, Ph.D., of Boston

As computers outperform humans at complex cognitive tasks, disruptive innovation will increasingly remap the familiar with waves of creative destruction. And in health care, nowhere is this more apparent or imminent than at the crossroads of radiology and the emerging field of clinical data science. As leaders in our field, we must shepherd the innovations of cognitive computing by defining its role within diagnostic imaging, while first and foremost ensuring the continued safety of our patients.



If we are dismissive, defensive or self-involved, industry, payers and provider entities will innovate around us, achieving different forms of disruption, optimized to serve their own needs. To maintain our leadership position, as we enter the era of machine learning, it is essential that we serve our patients by directly managing the use of clinical data science toward the improvement of care - a position which will only strengthen our relevance in the care process as well as in future federal, commercial and accountable care discussions.

We will explore the state of clinical data science in medical imaging and its potential to improve the quality and relevance of radiology, as well as the lives of our patients.


Hope, hype and harm as medicine enters the digital age: Lessons from (and for) radiology
Sunday 8:30-10:15 a.m. Robert M. Wachter, M.D., of San Francisco

While radiology went digital nearly two decades ago, the wholesale switch from paper to computer in the rest of health care is a relatively recent phenomenon. While computerization has helped improve safety and quality, it has also had unanticipated consequences, many of them quite negative. Studies have shown, for example, that physician burnout has never been higher - and much of this is attributable to the electronic health record. Other studies have documented new types of medical errors, sometimes known as"eiatrogenesis." Dr. Robert Wachter spent a year studying the digitization of health care in researching his 2015 book, The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age. In this talk, he'll describe what we got right - and wrong - in our journey, and why radiology was, to a large degree, a canary in the digital coal mine.


Health care transformation: Driving value through imaging
Monday 1:30-2:45 p.m. Vivian S. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., of Salt Lake City

In the evolution from fee-for-service health care to value-driven population health, health care systems must learn to embrace patient-centered, value-focused practices, and the leaders of these systems must be committed to building these cultures. Radiology departments serve as a centralized core of experts, guiding accurate diagnosis and informing care pathways. They therefore have tremendous opportunity in defining and enhancing value for providers and their patients.



New horizons lecture
Beyond imaging: Radiology of tomorrow
Tuesday 1:30-2:45 p.m. Hedvig Hricak, M.D, Ph.D., of New York


Cancer care - along with imaging - is on the brink of profound change. Over the last quarter-century, researchers have been assembling the biological syntax and lexicon that are now starting to shape modern oncology. Shifting public expectations and technological innovations are also intensifying progress toward precision medicine. In the next 10 years, radiologists will be able to take advantage of new molecular imaging probes and techniques as well as computer tools for pattern recognition, deep learning and artificial intelligence. These new techniques and tools will put us at the center of the evolving paradigm of precision oncology, giving us an unprecedented opportunity to once again reshape and enhance our specialty.

It is clear that cognitive computing will ultimately transform radiology. Rather than fear the changes it brings, we should understand and seize the opportunities. While cognitive computing may reduce the need for interpretation of today's routine imaging studies, it will also increase our efficiency and effectiveness, improving standards of care across the board and elevating radiology interpretation to the arena of quantitative science and precision medicine. It will allow us to focus on more complex diagnostic and clinical questions and become even more valuable consultants to patients and referring physicians.

Annual oration in radiation oncology
Prostate cancer: Improving the flow of research
Wednesday 1:30-2:45 p.m. Colleen A. Lawton, M.D., of Milwaukee

Prostate cancer for men, like breast cancer for women, is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. This fact alone should cause nationwide concern and result in a push for improved screening and treatment for men plagued with this disease. Yet over the past three decades we have seen screening with PSA come and go and treatment for localized disease improve, but at a relative snail's pace.



Treatment for locally advanced disease has seen progress, but the tempo is sluggish and adoption of the advances not universal. Recently, there has been a large influx of treatment options for metastatic patients which, of course, is progress, but in the end these patients will likely die of their disease. The goal of this presentation will be to review what we have learned from prostate cancer research over the past three decades. This will include a review of the research on imaging for accurate staging, in addition to research on screening and treatment options. We will look at where we have succeeded and where much work still needs to be done. Finally, we will explore opportunities to identify what needs to be done to help increase the flow of research, so as to brighten the future for prostate cancer patients.

RSNA/AAPM symposium: Precision imaging in medicine
Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m.
Moderator
Paul E. Kinahan, Ph.D., of Seattle
Learning Objectives:

1) To learn what the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) is, and how it is evolving as a national program. 2) To learn the current and potential impacts of the PMI on radiology through quantitative imaging and a focus on outcomes.
3) To learn how radiology can support the PMI through advances in big data analysis and supporting therapy.

Precision medicine: Optimizing imaging strategies
Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m. Daniel C. Sullivan, M.D., of Durham, N.C.
Learning Objectives:

During the past two decades, the molecular characterization of disease has revealed that each patient is likely to have a unique combination of genotypic, epigenetic and phenotypic profiles for their disease. In other words, no two patients with lung cancer or diabetes will have exactly the same molecular profile for their diseases, despite the fact that we currently give them the same clinical diagnosis. Biomarkers - both specimen and imaging - play an increasingly important role in health care as physicians try to determine the most appropriate therapy for any patient's molecularly-unique version of disease. This concept is variously called targeted, personalized, or precision medicine.