Annual Report of The Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA for the year 2020
In the year 2020, Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA entered into the eighth year of its formation. The total membership strength of Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA as of date now stands at more than 250.
The current Executive Committee is headed by Dr. Mahesh Prakash as the President and Dr. Naveen Kalra as the Secretary of the Chapter. Other members of the executive committee include Dr. Paramjeet Singh (President-Elect), Dr. Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Immediate Past President), Dr. Rupinder Singh and Dr. Ravinder Kaur (Vice Presidents), Dr. Kushaljit Singh Sodhi (Immediate past Secretary), Dr. Ajay Kumar (Treasurer), Dr. Pankaj Gupta and Dr. Harish Bhujade (Joint Secretaries), Dr. Akshay K Saxena, Dr. Tulika Singh, Dr. Amit Jain and Dr. Anindita Sinha (Central Council members) and Dr. Purnima Agarwal, Dr. Ajay Gulati, Dr. Chirag Kamal Ahuja and Dr.Vikas Mittal (State Council members).
The 7th Annual Conference of the Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA was organized on 22nd and 23rd February 2020 at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. The theme of the conference was ‘Oncoradiology’. The conference was inaugurated on 22nd February 2020 by Dr Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER. Dr Deepak Patkar, President, IRIA, was the Guest of Honour. Certificates of Honour were presented to Dr Kushaljit Singh Sodhi, Dr Naveen Kalra, Dr Mahesh Prakash, Dr Vivek Gupta and Dr Pankaj Gupta for their contribution to Radiology in different capacities in the year 2019.
The scientific programme covered all aspects of Oncoradiology in different organ systems and included neuro, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal and chest imaging. There were four international invited faculty from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, USA. They were Dr Harmeet Kaur, Dr Evelyne Loyer, Dr Jeremy Erasmus and Dr Behrang Amini. There was one invited faculty from Nepal, Dr Benu Lohani. Eminent national faculty from Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh included Dr Deepak Patkar, Dr Sanjeev Sharma, Dr Raju Sharma, Dr Vimal Someshwar, Dr Dinesh Sood, Dr Rajesh Sharma, Dr Anjali Prakash, Dr Vijender Arora, Dr Manoj Mathur, Dr Gurdeep Singh, Dr Sandeep Moudgil and Dr Vidur Mahajan. Eminent speakers from the state chapter included Dr Sameer Vyas, Dr Chirag K Ahuja, Dr Paramjeet Singh, Dr Anuj Prabhakar, Dr Ujjwal Gorsi, Dr Mahesh Prakash, Dr Pankaj Gupta, Dr Naveen Kalra and Dr Mandeep Kang.
It was a very successful two-day meeting and was attended by about 225 delegates. Punjab Medical Council had accredited 8 CME hours for the conference. Dr Paramjeet Singh, Chairman of the Annual Conference of IRIA, 2019 and Dr Akshay K Saxena, Organizing Secretary of the Annual Conference of IRIA, 2019 were felicitated by the General Body of the Chapter.
Three virtual quarterly academic meetings were also organized by the Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA during the year 2020. Dr Mahesh Prakash, President of the Chapter and Dr Naveen Kalra, Secretary of the Chapter were the moderators for all these virtual meetings.
The first online quarterly meeting of the Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA for the academic session 2020-2021 was organized on 6th June 2020. It was a theme-based meeting on ‘Radiology in Covid Times’. There were about 120 attendees for the meeting. Dr Ashish Gupta, Associate Professor, Division of Thoracic Radiology and Division of Angio-Interventional Radiology, University of Ottawa, Canada was a special invitee to the meeting. He spoke on ‘Imaging of COVID-19 Induced Lung Injury’ and shared his valuable experience. The other faculty speakers were Dr Harsh Mahajan, Founder and Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging, New Delhi and Past President of IRIA and Dr Sandeep Grover from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. Dr Harsh Mahajan spoke on ‘Radiology Practice in COVID Times’ and Dr Sandeep Grover delivered a talk on ‘Mental Health Issues Among the HCWs and How to Deal With Them’. Senior members of the Association including Dr Sudha Suri, Dr Deep N Srivastava, Dr Binoy K Choudhury and Dr Anjali Prakash were among the attendees.
The second online quarterly meeting of the Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA for the academic session 2020-2021 was organized on 25th September 2020. It was a theme-based meeting on ‘Emergency Radiology’. There were about 250 attendees for the meeting. Dr Ajay Singh, Associate Director of Emergency Radiology, Program Director of Emergency Radiology Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA was a special invitee to the meeting. He spoke on ‘Imaging in Acute Appendicitis’ and shared his valuable experience. The other faculty speakers were Dr Arun Sharma and Dr. Sreedhara BC, both Assistant Professors from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. Dr Arun Sharma spoke on ‘Imaging Approach to Acute Aortic Syndrome’ and Dr Sreedhara BC delivered a talk on ‘Acute Mesenteric Ischemia’. Senior members of the local chapter including Dr Sudha Suri, national and international radiologists were among the attendees.
The third online quarterly meeting of the Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA for the academic session 2020-2021 was organized on 26th December 2020. It was a theme-based meeting on ‘Abdominal Radiology’. There were about 175 attendees for the meeting. Dr Naganathan Mani, Associate Professor, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, USA was a special invitee to the meeting. He spoke on ‘Interventions in portal hypertension’ and shared his in-depth knowledge and valuable experience. The other faculty speakers were Dr Harish Bhujade, Assistant Professor and Dr Ajay Gulati, Additional Professor from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. Dr Harish Bhujade spoke on ‘Imaging in portal hypertension’ and Dr Ajay Gulati delivered a talk on ‘Imaging in obstructive jaundice’. Senior members of the local chapter including Dr Sudha Suri, Dr Suman Setia, Dr Kushaljit Singh Sodhi, Dr Rameshwar Gupta, Dr Nijhawan, national and international radiologists including Dr Rohtas Yadav, Dr Binoy K Choudhury, Dr Rajagopal KV, Dr Alpana Manchanda were among the attendees.
The branch members actively participated in the activities of the IRIA at the national level. A lot of our members were the invited speakers and chairpersons for the 73rd Annual Conference of IRIA, Gandhinagar, January 23-26, 2020. Dr Kushaljit Singh Sodhi delivered the Sir JC Bose Memorial Oration and Dr Mahesh Prakash delivered the Dr Mihir Mitter Oration. Dr Chirag Kamal Ahuja received the Kishore Taori Gold Medal for the best paper in the year 2019-2020 which he presented at the 73rd Annual Conference of Indian Radiological & Imaging Association (IRIA), Gandhinagar. Dr Ajay Gulati and Dr Ashish Dua were awarded the best poster award and the best oral paper presentation award respectively in the Annual Conference. Dr Pankaj Gupta has been selected for the award of Dr VP Lakhanpal Gold Medal for the best academic contribution in 2019 and Dr Prabhjyot Singh Chowhan has been selected for the Dr N Ramadas best research paper award for the year 2020.
Dr Kushaljit Singh Sodhi continued as Vice Chairman of Indian College of Radiology and Imaging. Dr. Akshay Kumar Saxena continued to be the National Subspecialty Head (Pediatric Radiology) and member of the Trade Relations Committee of IRIA. Dr. Akshay K Saxena, Dr. Kushaljit Singh Sodhi and Dr. Rahatdeep Singh served as Editorial board members of Indian Journal of Radiology & Imaging.
Dr Kushaljit Singh Sodhi, Dr Mahesh Prakash and Dr Naveen Kalra were invited as faculty speakers for SonoCon 2020. Dr Divya Singh was awarded the first prize for the best oral paper presentation in SonoCon 2020. Dr Akshay Kumar Saxena, Dr. Kushaljit Singh Sodhi, Dr Mahesh Prakash, Dr Tulika Singh, Dr Ujjwal Gorsi, Dr Chirag Kamal Ahuja, Dr Anmol Bhatia and Dr Pankaj Gupta were invited as faculty in various IRIA-ICRI symposia. Dr Naveen Kalra, Dr Chirag Kamal Ahuja and Dr Pankaj Gupta were invited as faculty for the IRIA-ICRI IREP course. Dr Kushaljit Singh Sodhi was invited as faculty speaker in the YUWA IRIA meet, 6th AP IRIA conference and in the RAD Sense event held by the UP Chapter of IRIA. Dr Mahesh Prakash was invited as faculty speaker in the RAD Sense event held by the UP Chapter of IRIA. Dr Sandhya Dhankar delivered web lectures under the Samrakshan programme of IRIA.
The Chandigarh Chapter was also very active at the Raksha front. Dr Sandhya Dhankar worked as convener of the Raksha initiative for the year 2020. Three Raksha activites were organized on 13th June, 15th September and 20th December, 2020. Dr Mahesh Prakash, Dr Naveen Kalra, Dr Ravinder Kaur, Dr Purnima Agarwal, Dr Tulika Singh, Dr Monica Chhabra actively participated in all these activities.
Naveen Kalra
Secretary, Chandigarh Chapter of IRIA