Some logistics of the Radiological Society of North America with thoughts about the future.

Abstract

In 1954, Dr. Eugene P. Pendergrass entitled his Presidential Address before the Radiological Society of North America “Looking Backward.” He recalled the early days, when the Society was formed from its progenitor, the Western Roentgen Society. The Western Roentgen Society had been organized in St. Louis, late in 1915, because of an ever-increasing interest among physicians in the Mid-West in the new diagnostic tool, the x-ray. Most of these doctors could not afford the time and expense involved in traveling to the East to attend the early scientific sessions of the American Roentgen Ray Society, which came into existence in 1900. Also, the American Roentgen Ray Society had developed into an organization of fully trained specialists. Membership in it was not easily acquired, since applicants were expected to have done some valuable original work before their election. There was a firm belief, held by the founders of the Western Roentgen Society, that there should be a place in organized radiology in which young men might be encouraged to develop. In 1918, during the presidency of Dr. Benjamin H. Orndoff, when the new society was only three years old, it already had 472 members in 38 states. It was, obviously, no longer a “Western” society. The officers and other leading members became convinced that the organization could serve the younger radiologists of North America better by expanding into a national body. Accordingly, at an executive session of the Fifth Annual Convention of the Western Roentgen Society on Dec. 10, 1915, at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago, the name of the organization was changed to “The Radiological Society of North America.”At the same time, the name of the Society's official publication was changed to Journal of Radiology. In his Presidential Address at that meeting, Dr. Oliver H. McCandless said: “We should welcome the advent of coworkers and the utilization of different forms of radiant energy in the specialties of medicine, for it is to these men indulging in these specialties that we must look for the diversified use of radiant energy.” The attitudes he expressed are embodied in Article II of the Bylaws of the Society which state its objects. Section V reads: … “to create a closer fellowship among radiologists and closer co-operation between radiology and members of other branches of medicine and the allied sciences.” In his talk, Dr. Pendergrass recounted some of the vexing problems of the young, sturdy, and rapidly growing Society. I am sure all of you would enjoy reading the story in full, as it is printed in Radiology for February 1956. Today, I should like to take account of the present status and cast an inquiring glance into the future of the Radiological Society of North America. In 1918 there were 472 members and in 1921 approximately 700; in 1933 there were 1,111, in 1950 there were 2,109, and in 1954 membership had increased to 2,535.