Vienna, August 12, 2019 (ESR) – The European Society of Radiology (ESR) is pleased to announce that membership from the United States has reached a record high. As of August 6, 2019, 7,277 radiologists, related physicians and scientists from all over the US count themselves ESR members, therefore becoming part of the largest radiological society in the world. Americans now make up the second biggest national group amongst all ESR member countries, right after India and just ahead of Brazil and France, which tops the list of European nations.

“We have always had good relations with our American colleagues, and I am thrilled that our efforts to foster increased cooperation are now bearing fruit and showing in the ESR membership figures,” notes Professor Lorenzo E. Derchi from Genoa, Italy, Chair of the ESR Board of Directors. “We have been working closely together for years, in several committees and working groups, in particular in radiation protection and clinical decision support, cooperating with RSNA and ACR officers and other top radiologists from the United States. We are glad that we are now increasingly attracting regular members of the American radiological community, too.”

The number of American delegates to the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) has also shown a steady rise in recent years. “We are proud to say that the ECR has always been a favourite platform for our American colleagues to share their scientific achievements, and this is reflected in the high number of outstanding speakers year after year,” explains Professor Boris Brkljačić from Zagreb, Croatia, who will preside over ECR 2020 as ESR President.

“Now, we’re aiming for another record: to receive more abstracts than ever before from our American colleagues. We are seeking out their first-class scientific research and latest findings, and we invite them to bring these to the ECR, the foremost international forum for imaging innovations with participants from 133 countries.”

At ECR 2020, more than 40 top radiologists from the USA will feature as invited speakers, including world-renowned figures such as Hedvig Hricak from Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York; RSNA President-elect James P. Borgstede from the University of Colorado in Denver; James A. Brink, Radiologist-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Juan M. Taveras Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School; Keith J. Dreyer from Massachusetts General Hospital; Alexander A. Bankier from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; Donald P. Frush from Stanford Children’s Health; Mary C. Mahoney from the University of Cincinnati, Chair of the RSNA Board of Directors; Umar Mahmood from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston; Brian D. Coley from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital; and Elizabeth A. Morris from Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

ECR 2020 will take place in Vienna March 11–15, 2020; abstract submission is open until October 10, 2019.