Message from your Outgoing SECSNMMI
President

Daniel Lee, MD

 Emory University

Despite evidence that the US economy is slowly improving, many challenges remain within our field.  Jobs for technologists and physicians remain scarce, downward pressure on imaging to reduce healthcare costs continues, and decreased availability and/or increased cost of supplies make the practice of nuclear medicine more difficult.

Yet nuclear medicine remains highly relevant as an effective means for noninvasive diagnosis and therapy.  The past few years have witnessed several developments that are cause for hope.  For instance, the FDA's approval of new radiopharmaceuticals for beta-amyloid imaging, for the assessment of movement disorders, for lymphoscintigraphy, and the first commercially available alpha-emitting radionuclide foreshadows other radiopharmaceuticals in the development pipeline.  As our Coleman Lecturer, Dr. Steven Larson discussed in Orlando, there are also other drugs in development that may benefit the care of thyroid cancer patients with dedifferentiated tumors. Innovation in hardware such as solid-state detectors for cardiac and breast imaging and hybrid PET/MR instruments bring increased diagnostic performance and reduced radiation doses for our patients.

Our Chapter and national leadership are actively working on your behalf to face the challenges and to bring the promises of nuclear medicine to fruition.  They are working to promote the interests of all stakeholders in our specialty, to advocate for the fields of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, and to educate the public about the value of what we do.  As Dr. Bob McDonald and Amy Brady take over the reins of our Chapter, I ask that you support them as well as our other officers.  Keep on keeping on and keep doing what you do, in the trenches, every day.  Keep on with your excellent patient care.  Keep on with your innovative research.  And keep on with your outstanding teaching so that we can pass the torch on to following generations.

Update from the Alabama Society of Nuclear Medicine

The ASNM is currently preparing to host its annual Fall Society Meeting in celebration of Nuclear Medicine Week in Birmingham, Alabama. The ASNM is currently in the process of revising and creating a new website for our members. The ASNM is also preparing to review it's bylaws for any necessary revisions.

The annual ASNM Spring meeting will be held in May 1-3, 2015 at the Caribe Beach Resort in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The Georgia Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologists (GSNMT) is proud to report another successful meeting in the books! The 2014 meeting was held May 2nd-4th at The Riverfront Marriott in the beautiful historic city of Savannah, GA. The 2013 meet was such a success in large part to the determination and efforts of all the current and past officers. Member turnout was fantastic with over 100 members registering and vendor support was excellent as well! The Georgia Society was able to offer 14 CE's with talks given by physicians, technologists, and physicists over the course of three days.

The 2015 GSNMT meeting will be held at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center, just minutes away from the heart of downtown Atlanta! The meeting is scheduled for May 15th -17th. Check our website at www.gsnmt.org for updates, registration, and vendor registration! We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta, and thank you for your continued support!

Executive Board Report:

Budget from Fall SNMMI-TS Executive Board Meeting approved with small surplus for technologist section. 

New Grants approved:

WFNMB Student Travel Grant

Graduate Program Award Grant

Joint Compounding:

In response to the recent challenges surrounding the understanding of appropriate compounding procedures, a task force was formed with representation from both the SNMMI and the SNMMI-TS to focus on Joint Compounding initiatives.

Key items: 

1. 1.       Draft an article on compounded sincalide to be included in Newsline, Uptake or another format that will be seen by technologists and others.
2. 2.       Draft curriculum to use to develop education and training modules.
3. 3.       Continue review and monitoring of the draft legislation in the House and Senate.

In December the President signed the Drug Quality and Security Act which regulates pharmacy compounding.

Click here to find out! 

Want to see what our State organizations are doing?

Alabama

Georgia

Florida

Kentucky

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee 

The main goal of the KSNMT is to provide the members with continuing education hours. We have 2 meetings per year which typically provide between 5-7 hours per meeting.

Because of low enrollment and a lack of applicants for August 2014, the administration of Bluegrass Community and Technical College, Lexington KY made the decision to give the Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging Technology program a rest for the 2014-2015 academic year. The administration is supportive to try to organize a class for August 2015, however if it is not a full class of 8 students, there is a high probability that the college will discontinue the program. That decision will be made at the end of the spring 2015 semester.  The Lexington program is the sole NMMIT program in KY following the closure of the program in Louisville in 2013.

The term is up for 4 of the KY Imaging Board appointments. They should be re-filled in November.  The regulations committee has revised the regulations and the board is in the process of reviewing and voting on the changes.  The new regulations will then be sent to LRC (Legislative Review Committee) for revisions and public comment.  One of the new regulations is a provisional license so nuclear medicine technologists can get the comps needed to sit for the ARRT CT exam.  Once certified the new regulations would allow anyone credentialed in a post primary to actively work in their credentialed area based on their scope of practice. (i.e. ARRT CT certified NM tech could do regular CT).

Message from
your Outgoing SECSNMMI-TS President

Cynthia Elliott Brodnax, CNMT, RT(R,CT) 

Jacksonville Medical Center

As I look back over the past couple of years, I am proud and in awe at the presence of the SEC-TS at the National level. I always knew that the SECSNMMI-TS had a big part in the Governance of our Society, but to see so many familiar faces around the tables made me very proud of the SEC. We have representation on almost every committee, council and the Executive board. Our own Aaron Scott will be assuming the SNMMI-TS Presidency at the 2015 Meeting in Baltimore, we should all volunteer our service to him as he takes on this prestigious and stressful office.

I had the privilege to sit on the House of Delegates this year as TS-President and also on the Committee on Chapters.  The Committee on Chapters was most informative, it seems that each chapter has its own issues to deal with, but the common ground we all shared is job security, declining membership, low attendance at the meetings and the need for new leadership. Some chapters have been doing raffles and scavenger hunts in the vendor area for Complimentary registration to their next meeting to boost attendance. One thing I noticed that was unique to the SEC is the fact that we have such strong local societies in our States. We as a Chapter need to encourage these organizations to promote the chapter and to send representation to the SEC-TS council meeting and to mentor the officers of the State societies for new SEC-TS leadership.  I would like to see a SEC-TS member at each TS- Leadership academy, this is a great way to learn about the governance of the SNMMI-TS and to meet members of other chapters.

The SNMMI-TS Roadshows this past year did not include a stop in the Southeastern chapter. This is due partly to the fact that the SEC-TS does have strong local organizations and partly to a lack of support from rural areas. I would like to see an application to host a Roadshow from the SEC-TS every year. These TS-Roadshows are a great way to reach the more rural areas that wouldn't otherwise have access to live CE program of this caliber.

I want to encourage each member who hasn't attended a National meeting to try to do so. There are such great speakers; it's a great way to network with your colleagues and the best way to see what's new and exciting in the equipment world.

I am honored to have represented the SECSNMMI-TS and look forward to the future under the leadership of Amy Brady, please give her the support and encouragement you've shown me. 

The NMTT had a successful Annual meeting March 28-30, 2104 with 142 attendees.  The meeting offered 13 Voice credits.  Tennessee currently has four programs training students in nuclear medicine:  Baptist College of Health Sciences, Chattanooga State Community College, South College, and Vanderbilt University.  We are excited to have a very active membership and are looking forward to the 2015 Annual meeting in Franklin, Tennessee.   The meeting dates are March 28-30, 2015.  The 2015 meeting will continue to offer Voice credit for our members and the two-day student program that offers lectures, study advice, and a mock registry. 

The South Carolina Society of Nuclear Medicine (SCSNM) continues to strive to provide educational opportunities and enrichment to technologist through out the state. Over the past couple of years there has been a continue decline in membership, due to employers not reimbursing for continuing education and the technologist are getting credits through free online sites. The SCSNM is affiliated with Midlands Technical College Nuclear Medicine program. The SCSNM provides them the opportunity to actively participate in all state meetings and present themselves to potential employers. Currently, there are 9 students enrolled in the program at MTC and 7 graduated in August 2014. 

Contact Us 

Southeastern Chapter SNM
1240 Iroquois Avenue, Ste. 106
Naperville, Illinois 60563
Ph:  630/428-3877
Email: [email protected]

Web Site:  www.secsnm.org