Déjà Vu All Over Again

As I begin to write these editorials, I reread those of corresponding issues of Applied Radiology from previous years. Marking the passage of time and change of perspective usually inspires me in a positive way.

But writing this editorial, in particular, feels like more of a challenge—in ways both joyous and melancholy.

In the fall of 2019, which seems like a lifetime ago, I was thrilled to be attending the Radiological Society of North America’s Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting for the first time as Editor-in-Chief of AR. I was truly excited to be conducting interviews in the booth and meeting so many of you. I came away very much looking forward to doing it all again the following year.

But 2020 brought us a “A Year Like No Other,” as I wrote in my final editorial of the year, and we all were forced to take in the 106th edition of the RSNA virtually from our homes and/or offices. Here we are again, at the end of another year that feels so very similar to the last. In the US we are riding the fifth—fifth—wave of the global pandemic, and in that sense so little seems to have changed.

But much has changed, and for the better. For instance, you hold in your hands the last issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of Applied Radiology. This has been quite a good year for the journal, including a striking new cover and clean new layout.

I am particularly enamored of the articles, written over the past year by publisher Kieran Anderson and Editorial Advisory Board members Elliot Fishman, Marilyn Siegel, and Christine Harris, marking the evolution of medical imaging during the past half century. The last article in this series, authored by Board member Eliot Siegel and starting on page 27, highlights the birth and growth of imaging informatics.

We are also proud to debut in this issue, “Global Health Imaging,” a new department through which our mission is to call attention to radiology’s significant, ongoing contributions to health care around the world.

And then there’s the Radiological Society of North America’s 107th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. The grand dame of radiology meetings begins unfolding the weekend after Thanksgiving Day here in the US—and in person for the fully vaccinated! The theme is, “Redefining Radiology;” organizers hope to make this year’s RSNA “the place where new ideas and technologies that redefine what it means to work as a radiologist will come to life.”¹

The RSNA will certainly redefine work for me. For many, including myself, it will be the first in-person meeting in nearly two years. It will redefine what it means to travel and convene in large numbers safely again. To reconnect with old friends and colleagues. To pick up where we left off that lifetime ago.

Indeed, my fervent hope is that by the time you read this, school-aged children across the world will be getting their vaccinations, families and friends will be gathering for the holidays, and we all will be creeping that much closer to our new normal.

May this be the last of the years like no other.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season and New Year to you all. Stop by our booth if you can. It will be really great to see you.

References

1. https://www.rsna.org/annual-meeting. Accessed October 25, 2021.