Interview with the President of the Italian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (SIUMB), Professor Leopoldo Rubaltelli (LR) February 2008. Interview by Michael Bachmann Nielsen (MBN).
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MBN: Thank you for accepting this interview. Could you start by telling me a little bit about yourself and your current position?
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LR: I am currently the President of the Italian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. I am professor of radiology in Padova. My first field of interest is Ultrasound especially research and education.
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MBN: I must admit that I have never been to Padova, maybe you can tell us a little bit about the city.
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LR: Padova is close to Venice. It has the second oldest university in Europe. Famous professors have taught there, including Galileo Galilei, Morgagni, Falloppio. There are approximately 40,000 students at Padova University currently.
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MBN: I know that the Italian Ultrasound Society is very large, constitutes approximately 10% of all EFSUMB members
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LR: Yes, there are almost 2,000 members; it is a mix of many clinical fields of specialization. I would estimate that 20% are radiologists like me, but nearly all-medical branches are represented.
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MBN: I know you have an Italian Ultrasound journal that was recently changed to being entirely in the English language
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LR: Yes, we have had a journal in Italian and in 2007 it was changed entirely to English and titled Journal of Ultrasound. There are 4 issues each year. We accept review articles, original research, case reports and others.
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MBN: Do you have a newsletter or is that included in your journal
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LR: There is a news section within the journal of Ultrasound. This news section is in Italian.
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MBN: I know you have a very large annual meeting and also know that the EFSUMB Publications, Education and Professional standards committees are planning to meet during the congress. Could you tell us a little bit about your annual congress?
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LR: This year's annual meeting will be held in November in Rome. We expect 1,500 participants. The meeting is actually in 2 parts, there is the congress part itself where research is presented and there is another part with courses in Ultrasound.
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MBN: Speaking of courses. How do you run courses in Italy and do you have a certificate for practice in ultra-sound
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LR: I think there are about 20 schools certified for teaching basic ultrasound and about 25 schools for advanced ultrasound, the latter being e.g. vascular ultrasound, Doppler, interventional ultrasound, senology and many more. All these schools are approved by SIUMB - the Italian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.
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MBN: We mentioned earlier the Journal of Ultrasound. The official journal of EFSUMB is Ultraschall in der Medizin/European Journal of Ultrasound; I know that several Italians have individual subscriptions. Do you think that at some time SIUMB will consider bulk subscription
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LR: My personal opinion is that Ultraschall in der Medizin/European Journal of Ultrasound is a very good journal and I hope that we in the future can consider a joint subscription.
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MBN: Thank you very much for taking your precious time to give this interview. Do you have any views upon the future of Ultrasound in Europe and in EFSUMB in particular
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LR: In particular I have appreciated the recent guidelines that have been published by EFSUMB. In my opinion they are examples of useful co-operation in the federation involving many member countries. I am sure this is something that EFSUMB is very proud of.
