Radiology is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography, but today it includes all imaging modalities, including those that use no electromagnetic radiation, as well as others that do, such as computed tomography (CT), fluoroscopy, and nuclear medicine including positron emission tomography (PET). Interventional radiology is the performance of usually minimally invasive medical procedures with the guidance of imaging technologies such as those mentioned above.
Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been included as a health profession according to International Standard Classification of Occupation of the International Labour Organization.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) is the leading professional organisation for the promotion of the science and practice of the medical specialties of clinical radiology and radiation oncology in Australia and New Zealand. The college has members throughout the world. RANZCR provides the educational curricula for medical graduates training to enter the specialties.
A medical physicist is a health professional with specialist education and training in the concepts and techniques of applying physics in medicine and competent to practice independently in one or more of the subfields (specialties) of medical physics. A medical physicist plays a fundamental role in applying physics to medicine, but particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The scientific and technological progress in medical physics has led to a variety of skills that must be integrated into the role of a medical physicist in order for them to perform their job. The "medical services" provided to patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic treatments must, therefore, be the result of different but complementary skills. In general, the medical physicist is responsible for all scientific and technical aspects of imaging, radiation treatment, and radiation safety. It is their occupational role to ensure that medical modalities offered to patients are met with the utmost quality assurance. It is the medical physicist that manage and supervise the efforts of dosimetrists, therapists and technologists in that capacity.
A medical specialty is a branch of medical practice that is focused on a defined group of patients, diseases, skills, or philosophy. Examples include those branches of medicine that deal exclusively with children (paediatrics), cancer (oncology), laboratory medicine (pathology), or primary care. After completing medical school or other basic training, physicians or surgeons and other clinicians usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple-year residency to become a specialist.
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is a non-profit organization established in 1933 which represents 24 broad areas of specialty medicine. ABMS is the largest and most widely recognized physician-led specialty certification organization in the United States. The other certification organizations in the United States are the American Board of Physician Specialties and American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists.
The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical society representing nearly 40,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists.
Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialise in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radiographers are infrequently, and almost always erroneously, known as x-ray technicians. In countries that use the title radiologic technologist they are often informally referred to as techs in the clinical environment; this phrase has emerged in popular culture such as television programmes. The term radiographer can also refer to a therapeutic radiographer, also known as a radiation therapist.
The American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS), the official certifying body for the American Association of Physician Specialists (AAPS) is a non-profit umbrella organization for sixteen medical specialty boards that certifies and re-certifies physicians in fourteen medical specialties in the United States and Canada. It is one of three certifying bodies in the United States in addition to the American Board of Medical Specialties, and American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists. The ABPS oversees Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) certification in the United States. The ABPS assists its Member Boards in developing and implementing educational and professional standards to evaluate and certify physician specialists. It is recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Imaging informatics, also known as radiology informatics or medical imaging informatics, is a subspecialty of biomedical informatics that aims to improve the efficiency, accuracy, usability and reliability of medical imaging services within the healthcare enterprise. It is devoted to the study of how information about and contained within medical images is retrieved, analyzed, enhanced, and exchanged throughout the medical enterprise.
The American Board of Nuclear Medicine (ABNM) certifies physicians as specialists in the practice of nuclear medicine. Diplomates of the ABNM are called nuclear medicine physicians. The ABNM is one of the 24 member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Nuclear medicine physicians, also called nuclear radiologists or simply nucleologists, are medical specialists that use tracers, usually radiopharmaceuticals, for diagnosis and therapy. Nuclear medicine procedures are the major clinical applications of molecular imaging and molecular therapy. In the United States, nuclear medicine physicians are certified by the American Board of Nuclear Medicine and the American Osteopathic Board of Nuclear Medicine.
Phlebology is a medical speciality that is concerned with venous issues including the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the veins. A medical specialist in this field is known as a phlebologist. The specialty of phlebology has developed to enable physicians sharing an interest in venous disease and health to share knowledge and experience despite being trained in a variety of backgrounds such as dermatology, vascular surgery, haematology, interventional radiology or general medicine. Diagnostic techniques used include the patient's history and physical examination, venous imaging techniques in particular vascular ultrasound and laboratory evaluation related to venous thromboembolism. The American Medical Association and the American Osteopathic Association have added phlebology to their list of self-designated practice specialties.
Medical Radiation Scientists (MRS) are healthcare professionals who perform complex diagnostic imaging studies on patients or plan and administer radiation treatments to cancer patients. Medical radiation scientists include diagnostic radiographers, nuclear medicine radiographers, magnetic resonance radiographers, medical/cardiac sonographers, and radiation therapists. Most medical radiation scientists work in imaging clinics and hospitals' imaging departments with the exception of Radiation Therapists, who work in specialised cancer centers and clinics.
Acta Radiologica is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering the field of radiology, including diagnostic and interventional radiology, clinical radiology, experimental investigations in animals, and all other research related to imaging procedures. Acta Radiologica is published by SAGE Publications in association with the Nordic Society of Medical Radiology, a federation of societies of Medical Radiology in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The journal is edited by Arnulf Skjennald.
The American Osteopathic College of Radiology (AOCR), founded in 1941, is a non-profit professional medical association in the United States representing Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) that specialize in radiology. The AOCR is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to oversee continuing medical education activities for osteopathic radiologists. The AOCR is one of two professional organizations representing American radiologists, the other organization is the American College of Radiology. The college publishes The Journal of the American Osteopathic College of Radiology (JAOCR).
Ronald J. Ross is a Cleveland, Ohio radiologist known for research on brain injury in professional and amateur boxers and for the first clinical use of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging on human patients. Ross is also credited with the first use of head and whole body computed tomography imaging (CT) in a private clinical setting in the United States.
The Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR), established 1931, is an academic radiology center associated with the Washington University School of Medicine, located within the Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to providing diagnostic and therapeutic patient-care services, the institute is a top research and education center. It employs over 140 academic staff and is among the top recipients of National Institutes of Health funding of radiology departments. The center provides radiology services to Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, as well as multiple other hospitals and outpatient centers in the St. Louis area. The center performs 700,000 examinations and procedures annually.
Cheri L. Canon is an American abdominal radiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Radiology. She currently serves as a professor and as the Witten-Stanley Endowed Chair of Radiology in the department of radiology at UAB.
Caridad Borrás is a Spanish medical physicist. Her career started in 1964 at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona. From 1988 to 2000, she was Regional Advisor of the Radiological Health Program and, from 2000 to 2002, Coordinator of Essential Drugs and Technology at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington D.C.
