Message from the ISGAR President

Dr. Rochita Venkataramanan

The formation of the long needed Indian Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology, ISGAR, took place on September 4, 2016, with registration on December 7, 2016, in the sunny southern city of Chennai.

It is a great honor for me to be the founding President of this society, as well as to be associated with my esteemed founding governing council members.

Since I first joined radiology in 1990, abdominal radiology has seen many advances. Gone are the days when we would do a contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography scan for 30 minutes on our conventional non-helical scanners. Advances in technology have catapulted radiology into a branch that works with sophisticated machines. The abdominal viscera have emerged from two-dimensional shadows to crisp cross-sectional images yielding multiplanar views by skilled data manipulation. This has created the need for skill development over a very short time, particularly in the subspecialty of abdominal radiology, as the field continues to evolve rapidly. However, skilled radiologists are centered in big cities in India leaving needs from vast parts of the country unanswered and many diseases detected late in their presentation at tertiary referral centers.

The ISGAR addresses this need and is the ideal platform for learning and research for those who are especially interested in abdominal radiology. An important goal of ISGAR is to proactively connect these radiologists and their clinical colleagues into a multidisciplinary collaboration. Educational activities of the society will include conferences and workshops, full and travelling fellowships, case discussions, quizzes on the website www.isgar.org , and much more. Research activities will include multicentric studies. Connecting with our international counterparts with exchange of knowledge is also one of our goals.

Between October 6 and 8, 2017, ISGAR had convened its inaugural annual conference in Chennai. The highlights were multidisciplinary discussions and debates. The second annual conference in New Delhi is being held from September 28 to 30, 2018. Once again the focus is on multidisciplinary discussions involving physicians, surgeons, pathologists, and radiologists on a unified platform.

Disease-specific committees have been formed and these are addressing many difficulties faced in the field of multidisciplinary medical research in a disease-focused manner.

Within a short span of 2 years ISGAR has now embarked on the launch of its journal, Journal of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology ISGAR, JGAR, under the able leadership of its Chief Editor Dr. Shalini Govil. The journal will focus on promoting research mindedness in the field of gastrointestinal and abdominal radiology. I am indeed fortunate to see this revolution and be a part of it. Also, I am very proud of the hard work that has been put in to surmount the many obstacles and stay the course for the launch of our journal. I eagerly await to see what innovations will be brought in by JGAR.