In January 2008, the American College of Radiology (ACR) will launch the ACR Education Center, which will provide the most cutting-edge, comprehensive, interactive radiology education available. Attendees will gain hands-on knowledge and expertise through a mentored self-study format, individual workstations, PACS systems that replicate their clinical practice environment, and frequent feedback.

"The ACR Education Center will permit radiologists to come to one central facility where the full spectrum of learning tools is available, and where courses and mentoring can be provided to match any specialist's skill, to make that specialist a better, more knowledgeable, and more experienced doctor," said Arl Van Moore, Jr., M.D., chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors.

The ACR Education Center, to be located across the street from the ACR headquarters in Reston, Va., will offer the next generation of educational resources and teaching methods - currently not available through any other venue. The most advanced technology, a world-class faculty, and the largest repository of annotated data sets and case examples complete this incomparable educational experience.
"The ACR Education Center will give the radiology community access to the most advanced educational topics using truly innovative techniques," explained Education Commission Chair Lawrence P. Davis, M.D. "It will provide a seamless link between didactic material, computer-based self-study using data sets of unknowns, and real-life, practice-oriented simulations."

This new education center will serve as a "mini-university," offering hands-on refresher courses and new techniques for doctors already in practice. It will house multimedia facilities for interaction between doctors and the educational material. When new techniques to treat a disease are introduced, the center will provide a national training resource to educate radiology specialists from community hospitals to academic medical centers, so that the early learning curve is accomplished through new educational methods, including simulation, rather than on patients.

The ACR Education Center will debut its new curriculum with courses covering CT colonography (virtual colonoscopy), coronary cardiac CT imaging (including supervised case review), and advanced breast imaging and biopsy techniques. More programs, including interventional radiology techniques and PET/CT, will continue to be added to meet anticipated and emerging needs of the radiology community.

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