The Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research, RSNA members, and early-career investigators are advocating for medical imaging research and facilities and administration (F&A) funding at this year’s March 25 Hill Day and #MedTech25 events in Washington, DC.
Academy Executive Director Renee Cruea told AuntMinnie.com via email that Hill Day is an opportunity to educate policymakers and their staff about F&A costs, which are on the block for cuts at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“The mission of the Academy is to advocate on behalf of our community for federal investment in support of medical imaging research,” Cruea said, adding that the value of F&A to departments would be discussed. “A debate about facilities and administration costs is important and healthy, and certainly not new,” she said. But she also cautioned that cutting F&A could impact the academic enterprise overall.
Examples of resources it takes to deliver results, that have been covered by indirect cost F&A payments, according to Cruea, include support staff, such as security, financial, admin, technical, maintenance; radiation and chemical safety, including training and waste disposal; secure data storage, internet, communications, and data processing; advanced lab equipment; and utilities, to name a few.
“On the F&A issue, we will be focusing on educating policymakers and their staff on what exactly facilities and administrative costs mean and do, to try and put a face on it,” Cruea said. “It is not a well-understood term.”
The annual Medical Imaging Research Roundtable Discussion, cosponsored by the RSNA, will be held on March 26. Key discussions will include urging industry and academia to implement AI clinical translation, and the value of federal investment in medical imaging research and development, according to the academy. Discussion leaders will include the following:
- Woojin Kim, MD, chief medical officer from the ACR Data Science Institute
- Nina Kottler, MD, associate chief medical officer for clinical AI at Radiology Partners
- Alexander Towbin, MD, associate chief medical information officer for imaging at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
- Pari Pandharipande, MD, chair of the Ohio State University department of radiology
- Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, senior vice president for data and technology solutions at the University of Pennsylvania
As part of the Medical Imaging Technology Showcase on the evening of March 26, the academy will highlight the work of radiologists Fanny Chapelin, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego; Brittany Dashevsky, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine; Tyler Richards, MD, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City; and Amir Imanzadeh, MD, at the University of California, Irvine, among others.
Find more details about these events on the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research website.