Working Groups

The European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology is proud to support new working groups within the field of MR.

Interested in starting a working group?
We welcome proposals for working groups on hot topics as well as general developments or the introduction of magnetic resonance techniques in the fields of medicine and biology. Send this filled in template to office@esmrmb.org for consideration of the Executive Board.

Current Working Groups

GREC (Gadolinium Research & Education Committee) is a group of multidisciplinary ESMRMB members, including clinicians, scientists, chemists, physicists, pathologists and clinical epidemiologists who all share a common interest in the study of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) in a wide variety of clinical and pre-clinical conditions.

The working group is chaired by Prof. Aart Nederveen (NL) and Prof. Carlo C. Quattrocchi (IT).

Find the ESMRMB-GREC Programme 2023 here.

Access the ESMRMB-GREC members area here (password required).

ESMRMB is delighted to announce the launch of a new working group: Committee for Advancement of MRI Education and Research in Africa (CAMERA).

This ESMRMB Working Group aims to develop a sustainable framework for accelerating MRI research and education excellence in Africa, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region of the world with the lowest density of MRI scanners.

The working group is lead by Udunna Anazodo (Canada), Johnes Obungoloch (Uganda), and Andrew Webb (Netherlands).

As part of the memorandum of understanding between the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB) and the European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS), a joint MRI Radiographers Working Group has been established. This official Working Group will help both organisations to: 

  • better engage MR radiographers/technologists; 
  • plan MR educational offerings; 
  • provide expert input to both Boards as required, making sure the MR radiographers perspective is captured; 
  • provide representatives for ESMRMB or EFRS projects or working groups.

Experienced MRI radiographers from the education, research, and practice domains have been appointed by both the EFRS and ESMRMB Executive Boards. Dr. Allison McGee (Dublin/IE), who is an internationally recognised MRI educator and researcher, has been appointed as the inaugural Chair of the Working Group with Mr Claude Portanier Mifsud (Msida/MT), a highly experienced clinical MR radiographer and manager, appointed as the deputy chair.  Other members of the group are: Mr. Benoit Billebaut (Münster/DE), Mr. Charalabos Bougias (Epirus/GR), Dr. Jean-Philippe Dillenseger (Strasbourg/FR), Dr. Christine Heales (Exeter/UK), Ms. Titti Owman (Lund/SE), Dr. Vitor Silva (Porto/PT).

The MRI Together Working Group is tasked with overseeing the organization of the MRI Together workshop, a global online event recurring annually in December, and dedicated to Open and Reproducible Science in MRI.
This Working Group is established to promote the workshop and, more broadly, open and reproducible research practices in the Community through activities at the Annual Meeting and during the year.

The Working group is composed by past and current members of the MRI Together planning committee, and currently they are: Francesco Santini (Switzerland), Laura Bell (USA), Sophie Schauman (Sweden), Mo Shahdloo (UK), Daniel Hoinkiss (Germany), Joana Pinto (UK), Petra van Houdt (The Netherlands).

More info here: https://mritogether.esmrmb.org/23m/

Lead: Prof. Chris Boesch, University of Bern

Mission

This Working Group proposes to create a discussion platform on the implications of the Medical Device Regulations (MDR) on MR research.

Theme

Medical Device Regulations represent a new set of regulations that govern the clinical investigation, production and distribution of medical devices in Europe in order so ensure general safety and performance requirements. Due to its unprecedented versatility (work-in-progress sequences, sequence programming, non-CE-coils, etc.), academic MRI research is particularly affected by these new regulations. The mission of this committee is to build within ESMRMB a body of interdisciplinary expertise how these regulations affect academic and industrial MR research in Europe as well as to share best practices in dealing with such legislation.

Working group composition

The Working Group is composed of academics, company employees (with expertise in hardware and/or safety evaluation), legal professionals and representatives of regulatory bodies.

Function Name First Name Affiliation
Lead Boesch Chris Bern, Switzerland
Member Arteaga de Castro Catalina Tesla Dynamic Coils
Member de Rochefort Ludovic Aix-Marseille, France
Member Fernandez Brice General Electric Healthcare
Member Groezinger Sven Oliver Siemens Healthineers
Member Hassler Eva Graz, Austria
Member Keil Vera Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Member Klomp Dennis Utrecht, The Netherlands
Member Ladd Mark Heidelberg, Germany
Member Marti-Bonmati Luis Valencia, Spain
Member Nohava Lena Vienna, Austria
Member Odoj Florian Rapid Biomed
Member Poujol Julie General Electric Healthcare
Member Rodgers Chris Cambridge, UK
Member Versluis Maarten Philips Healthcare
Proposed activities 

The role of this working group committee will be to:

  • Year 1: organize a first session at the upcoming annual meeting, to discuss implications of new medical device regulations for researchers and
    companies working in MR
  • Year 2-3: keep MDR as a recurrent topic in our society annual meeting, by including important stakeholders and by the organization of a regular knowledge exchange within the Working Group
Methods to achieve the proposed activities

There are three forms of activities envisaged:

  • Online meetings of the Working Group to exchange current knowledge and to build up a common body of expertise, in particular to bring input from communities that have a more tangential interest in ESMRMB meetings
  • Session at the annual meetings
  • Compilation of relevant relevant material on MDR and best practices to be shared either on the ESMRMB website or on the society journal
Chair: Esther Warnert (NL)

Mission

GLiMR is ESMRMB’s working group aiming at brain lesion imaging, with neuro-oncological imaging at its centre. Originally once founded as a COST Action and limited to glioma imaging, the group welcomes new members with a general interest in the quantitative imaging of brain tumors – be it to drive its clinical implementation forward or as an expert in the preclinical field.

Access the GLiMR Website here.

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