President's message.

My name is Connie Mitchell, and it is my honor to serve as your ASRT president. I would like to take this opportunity to share my presidential initiatives with you.

I believe two areas need intense focus by ASRT members, the Board and staff. The first is passage of the Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy bill. The Senate passed a version of this bill this past December. Unfortunately, the congressional year ended before the House could vote on the legislation. The CARE bill has been introduced in both chambers of Congress this year and is rapidly gaining cosponsors. I ask everyone to contact your senators and representatives and encourage them to become a cosponsor on this very important piece of legislation. For assistance, go to the ASRT Web site at www.asrt.org > Government Relations to learn about contacting your legislators.

The second area of focus is the growing impact of computed tomography on the industry. Emerging CT technologies are changing the way disease processes are imaged. In many radiology departments, intravenous urograms and barium enemas have disappeared from the general diagnostic division and reemerged as CT procedures. Radiology educators now will be including CT information in their curriculum. To address this issue, the ASRT will convene a CT consensus conference in August and its findings will be shared with ASRT members.

My initiatives include additional areas of exploration. One of the task forces appointed by past-president Cindy Daniels examined educational delivery methods. I have asked ASRT staff to develop a white paper addressing these methods based on the task force findings.

The next initiative is to increase recognition of and education for forensic radiography in the radiologic science profession within the United States. I have appointed a task force to investigate forensic radiography and all relevant organizations. My goal is to continue investing in education and resources for forensic medical imaging in the 2008-2009 governance year.

I have been working with Ms. Daniels on my next initiative--integrating the radiologist assistant position into the current membership and governance structure of the ASRT. A task force has already begun working on these issues. I thank Jeff Crowley, B.S., R.R.A., R.P.A., R.T.(R); James Herman, R.P.A., R.T.(R); and Vicki Sanders, B.S., R.R.A., R.T.(R)(CV), for agreeing to serve.

I look forward to serving you as president. These initiatives will enable us to address today's concerns and look toward the future. Together we can make a difference. I am always available at [e-mail].