For those looking to share their research and showcase their expertise in front of peers from across the country, submitting an abstract for the CAR 2023 Scientific and Educational Competitions is an excellent opportunity. Every year, as part of the CAR’s Annual Scientific Meeting, radiologists, trainees, and medical professionals from a variety of radiology subspecialties put forward their best work on relevant topics to present and compete for top prizes.
Submitters have five categories from which to choose, two of which are designated specifically for trainees:
- Departmental Clinical Audit Project (Trainees Only)
- Radiologists-in-Training Research Project (Trainees Only)
- Educational Exhibits
- Scientific Research Project
- Value of Radiology Project
At last year’s Annual Scientific Meeting, held virtually due to provincial pandemic restrictions, Dr. Tina Madzima and her team from the University of Toronto Joint Department of Medical Imaging and Mount Sinai Hospital took home first place in the Departmental Clinical Audit Project category for their work entitled Limited Utility of Abdominal CT Tomograms in Patients with Crohn Disease Presenting to the Emergency Department.
Dr. Madzima says presenting at CAR 2022 was an incredible experience.
“I enjoyed the interactive live question and answer period with the judges, which helped me gain insight into how my project was received based on the various questions generated. I also enjoyed the discussions around the other presentations/topics as well. Preparing for CAR 2022 helped me, as a trainee, learn more about my research topic area and engage many relevant stakeholders.”
She says the motivation to take part in the abstract competition was driven by the desire to communicate their work with peers beyond her immediate orbit.
“My supervisor and I felt that our audit project met the quality improvement criteria and demonstrated the impact on patient care. We really wanted to share our work with colleagues across Canada and hopefully encourage other residents to participate in future resident audit project competitions.”
Dr. Ricky Hu led a group that won first place at last year’s competition in the Radiologist-in-Training Research Project category. Their presentation was entitled Predicting Transplant Kidney Function Decline from Ultrasound Using an Interpretable Artificial Intelligence Model. He agreed with Dr. Madzima on CAR 2022 being an overwhelmingly positive experience.
“Though CAR 2022 was virtual, the attendees and moderators were all welcoming and stimulated insightful discussions regarding my research. Every presenter showcased exciting work in different domains of radiology, and I was impressed by the number of innovations we are leading in Canada.”
Dr. Hu says presenting at the competition allowed him to gain insight from a specific subset of clinicians in attendance.
“Submission to CAR 2022 provided an opportunity to share my work with medical imaging experts across the country, particularly experienced clinicians. Specifically, my work was in engineering development of image analysis methods with physics and AI, which is a growing field that requires the input from both engineers and physicians, and CAR 2022 was an excellent medium to facilitate the discussion.”
Dr. Hu says it was encouraging to see excitement around his group’s work spill over beyond the days of the event itself.
“After attending CAR 2022 and presenting, I received dozens of messages from peer medical students, radiology residents, and radiology staff regarding future research directions and opportunities for education. I previously presented exclusively at computer science conferences so being able to gain insight from radiologists was a new and valuable opportunity!”
The sentiment was echoed by Dr. Madzima, who says presenting on a national platform like CAR 2022 was incredibly professionally enriching.
“I learned about other projects in a valuable exchange of experience and ideas. Winning first place for our work was encouraging to me and my research team, and a great professional achievement. It was an honour to have been a part of the CAR 2022 presenters and I look forward to participating again in the future.”
The call for abstracts for CAR 2023 is now open! Anyone interested in submitting an abstract can find out more about the process here. The event will take place in-person in Montreal, QC from April 27-30, 2023.