Who will become the new ESR president in 2025?

Two candidates have been nominated for the post of second vice president of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) -- Prof. Jacob Sosna of Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, and Prof. Minerva Becker of the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland.

Prof. Jacob Sosna. All images courtesy of ESR.

The winner will become ESR president in July 2025 and will direct the 2026 edition of the ECR. The vote will take place among ESR members from 23 May to 5 June.

If victorious, Sosna, who is the immediate past president of the Israeli Radiological Association, will become the first ever ESR president from Israel.

"Radiologists face diverse challenges, with constant pressure to improve effectiveness, increase efficiency and safety, and move our capabilities forward," he stated in his CV/application. "Technological developments such as AI present both challenges and opportunities and I have a deep understanding of both."

Sosna, whose main research focus is clinical applications in CT, also plans to prioritize wellness. "The goal is to not just sustain ourselves but to achieve fulfillment and flourish. We should aim to decrease burnout and to address issues contributing to this modern professional pandemic."

Prof. Minerva Becker.

The other candidate for the post, Prof. Minerva Becker, is chief of head and neck and maxillofacial radiology at Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland.

"Although participation of radiologists in decisional multidisciplinary conferences is a common institutional quality requirement, the role of radiologists is often not satisfactorily reflected in staffing and reimbursement models," she wrote. "The ESR can take a leading role in demonstrating the value of such activities to policymakers throughout Europe for the benefit of patients and to avoid costs caused by incomplete or incorrect diagnoses."

Future research must address the impact of imaging on diagnosis and treatment outcome. "The ESR could advance this process by enhancing the visibility of such research through publications in the ESR journals," she added.

Prof. Marie-Pierre Revel.

Prof. Marie-Pierre Revel, from Paris, was recently voted the Most Effective Radiology Educator in the 2023 EuroMinnies awards and is standing for election as the ESR Communication and External Affairs Committee Chair.

"I am deeply European, and I think that the ESR, beyond its professional missions, contributes to the feeling of being part of the same community," she stated. "My motivation for this position is to contribute to our society's influence and to unite group activities that will enable us to promote our speciality, its expertise, and its autonomy with respect to other clinical specialties.

If elected, Revel plans to focus on issues in cardiac imaging and the management and organization of lung cancer screening, to name but two examples. The relationship with patient associations is "fundamental and synergistic," she said.

Also standing for this post is Prof. Apostolos Karantanas, a musculoskeletal radiologist at the University of Crete.

Dr. Anagha Parkar from Bergen, Norway -- an active member of AuntMinnieEurope.com's editorial advisory board since the site's launch at ECR 2011 -- is standing for election as the ESR Subspecialties and Allied Sciences Societies Committee Chair.

Dr. Anagha Parkar.

"Facilitation of increased co-operation across the subspeciality societies and affiliated clinical societies, but also assisting subspecialties, which are experiencing challenges with their related clinical field, would be the primary goal," she said, pointing to the danger of fragmentation of radiology in an era where clinicians are increasingly using imaging themselves. "We all need to support each other and stay in touch with the core: general radiology."

Dr. Nuria Bargalló from Barcelona, Spain, and Prof. Elmar Kotter, from Freiburg, Germany, are the other two candidates.

For the post of ESR Finance and Internal Affairs Committee Chair, the choice is between Dr. Maija Radzina from Riga, Latvia; and Dr. Nikoleta Traykova from Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The three candidates for the job of ESR Quality, Safety and Standards Committee Chair is Dr. Muşturay Karçaaltıncaba from Ankara, Turkey; Dr. Emanuele Neri from Pisa, Italy; and Dr. Helmut Prosch in Vienna.

The electronic elections are being managed by the online voting company Polyas. Only ESR full members are entitled to vote. On 23 May 2023, eligible members will receive an invitation to vote via e-mail from [email protected].

For the full list of candidates and to read their supporting statements and CVs, go to the ESR website.