ROBERT LUFKIN Elected President of the Society for Magnetic Resonance Imaging 1990-1991

By overwhelming vote of its entire membership the Society for Magnetic Resonance Imaging elected Robert Lufkin to be its president from 1990-1991.

Robert Lufkin has had a lifelong interest in neuroscience and imaging. During high school in the Boston area, he was fortunate to be able to attend classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]. During that time he also worked at the New England Primate Center affiliated with Harvard University where he helped in the laboratories of David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel who studied the mammalian visual system. They later received the Nobel Prize for their work describing the neurophysiology of the visual cortex.

            In college at Brown University, Robert did original experimental research in the neurophysiology of the mammalian visual system, specifically the superior colliculus. He also minored in computer science and worked part-time in the main campus computer center as a machine operator to earn extra money.

            Robert next attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where he also studied computer science in healthcare at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the University of Oregon Center for Health Sciences.  He completed a residency in diagnostic radiology [where he served as Chief Resident] at the University of California, Los Angeles[UCLA] School of Medicine.  After residency he did a fellowship in Neuroradiology/Head and Neck Radiology with Dr. William Hanafee and was recruited to join the faculty at UCLA where he eventually became a tenured Professor of Radiology.

            Internationally known for scientific works in medical imaging, Robert has written 14 textbooks, over 300 scientific papers and has been an invited and/or keynote speaker in many countries throughout the world.  His honors include being elected as President of the Society of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the President of the American Society of Head and Neck Radiology as well as numerous other professional honors and affiliations. He was honored to be listed as one of the 100 most creative people in Los Angeles by Buzz Magazine.  His scientific projects received millions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health [NIH] as well as leading medical equipment manufacturers such as General Electric Medical, Siemens Medical, and Fonar MR Systems to develop new medical scientific technology as well as numerous scientific inventions. One of his many inventions is a nonferromagnetic MR compatible medical biopsy needle for fine needle aspiration cytology which is widely sold today as the ‘Lufkin Needle’.

             In 2012 with the unprecedented revolution in artificial intelligence and biotechnology in general, he began to devote full time to developing opportunities in that space. He now also works with social media to educate other professionals and the public about the risks and potentials of artificial intelligence and technology in general.

The Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the Society

for Magnetic Resonance Imaging have been negotiating

a plan that would create one association, the Society of

Magnetic Resonance. The proposed move would be a boon for MRI

manufacturers, enabling them to cut in half the costs of exhibiting

at the societies' annual conferences.

Discussions of the merger began and a joint committee

of leading radiologists was formed to iron out the details. The

committee developed a merger plan that was overwhelmingly approved

by the boards of the societies at the SMRI meeting in San Francisco. The effective date of the merger was

be Jan. 1, 1994.

"It was becoming clear that the societies were doing more

and more of the same sorts of things, and it made sense to try

to join forces," said Jane E. Tiemann, SMRM executive director.

"We have two societies that are growing closer in their purposes

and activities."

The SMRM was formed in 1981 and had a reputation early on as

maintaining a more scientific focus, with particular emphasis

on MR spectroscopy. The SMRI, on the other hand, was known primarily

as an imaging society, weighted toward clinicians.

But since those early years, substantial cross-pollination

between societies has occurred, a trend indicative of the growing

maturation of MRI. Clinicians now understand the medical potential

of spectroscopy, while spectroscopists realize that in order for

the technique to be accepted it must be used clinically, according

to Dr. William G. Bradley, director of MRI at Long Beach Memorial

Medical Center in Long Beach, CA. Bradley served on the joint

committee that worked out the details of the merger.

"The distinctions have faded, and the question has to

be asked, do we need two meetings three months apart?" Bradley

said.

Major MRI vendors may have asked themselves the same question.

Cutting the number of annual meetings a year will only help MRI

vendors already trying to slash costs. Dealing with a merged society

will also accrue benefits that go beyond the costs of renting

and staffing booth space, according to Heinrich von Wulfen, president

of MRI at Siemens Medical Systems.

"The cost savings on the exhibition are small in comparison

to other resources we spend preparing for it," von Wulfen

said. "The main issue is that we will free up resources to

do what we do best, and that is develop products."

Marcelo Lima, marketing manager for the NMR division of Picker

International, concurs.

"A merger will concentrate in one place the opportunity

to showcase our products," Lima said. "I think it is

a great thing."