CADUCEUS - A newly formed Danish Australian connection

Inspired by the royal wedding in the spring of 2004 between the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Australian Mary Donaldson an informal contact was made between the Danish Society of Diagnostic Ultrasound (DSDU) and the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM) with the purpose of establishing a platform for a formal collaboration.

The text of the initial draft for an agreement began:

"We share a common past with both parties being strongly involved in the pioneering work of medical ultrasound and, as of the spring of 2004 we - in a sense - share a common cultural future with the royal wedding between Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Australian Mary Donaldson. We are physically as far apart as possible on the planet Earth, and yet we are closely related in many ways. We find these thoughts interesting and think they can be utilized to the benefit of ultrasound in our two countries."

Looking back this new Danish Australian connection has seen the formation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and also the first successful short term placement of a young Danish doctor Christoffer Brushøj to advance his research and PhD relating to musculoskeletal ultrasound in Melbourne, January 2006.

A document describing the principles of the collaboration was drafted by ASUM CEO Dr. Caroline Hong and signed April 2005 by the presidents of the two societies, the ASUM CEO and the DSDU Educational Committee Chairman, Michael Bachmann Nielsen. The MOU can be read in its full length on the DSDU website at www.duds.dk.

The project has been given the name CADUCEUS, an acronym ingeniously created by Prof. Ron Benzie, Sydney Australia, that stands for Collaborative Australasian Danish Undertaking for Continued Excellence in UltraSound, while at the same time being the name of the staff of the Greek God Hermes with the wings and the two serpents, which has become a symbol of medicine.

The objectives of CADUCEUS as stated in the MOU are twofold:

The Danish Society of Diagnostic Ultrasound (DSDU) wishes to work in collaboration with the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM) to further develop the promotion of excellence in ultrasound to a level comparable to the best in the world. The primary purpose of the Memorandum of Agreement is to facilitate DSDU and ASUM to promote a high standard of professional practice in medical ultrasound and also to promote a mutual exchange of information on or relating to education and training in medical ultrasound.

There are many potential ways for this to happen, one of which is short term fellowships as mentioned above. Other activities include - but are of course not limited to - exchange of ideas relating to the concept of professional standards and CME, joint venture research projects, exchange programs and support for seminars and conferences.

With respect to the last point one idea is that CADUCEUS will see a future exchange of speakers at major meetings between Denmark and Australasia. This certainly will be happening in 2006 where ASUM president David Rogers and editor of ASUM official journal "Ultrasound Bulletin", Roger Davies will be talking in Copenhagen at the "9th International Congress on Interventional Ultrasound" June 12th to 14th and I am invited to lecture at ASUM 2006 in Melbourne, September 14th to 17th.

During the "9th International Congress on Interventional Ultrasound" a ceremony will take place at which we will announce the official launching of CADUCEUS and at the same time establish a CADUCEUS Prize that annually is to be awarded a young ultrasound researcher with the purpose of enabling a 1 month research stay at an ASUM affiliated institution.

This years CADUCEUS Prize, however, will be a little different. It will be given to professor emeritus Hans Henrik Holm as a token of our appreciation of his outstanding and life long efforts of promoting diagnostic and interventional ultrasound in general and Danish ultrasound in particular. The award itself will be in the amount of DKK 50.000 to enable a combined congress and vacation tour for two persons to attend an ASUM meeting.

To conclude this little article I am happy to return to my first line by informing that the Crown Princess of Denmark HRH Mary has accepted to be the patron of the upcoming "9th International Congress on Interventional Ultrasound" that will attract around 200 doctors at Herlev Hospital in June.

Christian Pállson Nolsøe MD PhD

President, Danish Society of

Diagnostic Ultrasound