RSNA Press Release

CHICAGO — David H. Hussey, M.D., was installed today as president-elect of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for 2003. The announcement was made at RSNA's 89th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Dr. Hussey, who was elected to the RSNA Board of Directors in 1998, is a clinical professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. He had previously been director of the Division of Radiation Oncology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and professor of radiotherapy at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston.

"I was one of the last radiation oncologists to be trained as a general radiologist," Dr. Hussey said. "Shortly after I completed training, the two specialties split and radiation oncologists started their own society." Dr. Hussey notes that over time, the number of radiation oncologists in the RSNA has diminished and the size of the radiation oncology program at RSNA has gone down proportionately. "However, in recent years the two specialties have come closer together and there is a need for cross-fertilization between the two," he said. "In the coming year, I would like to increase involvement of radiation oncologists at our annual meeting, in participation and attendance, and their membership in RSNA."

Dr. Hussey said he would also like to help strengthen RSNA's strategic planning process, developed by the Board of Directors in 2001. Goals for the society were established and objectives were written for each goal. Strategies were then developed to accomplish the objectives, to be evaluated each year as part of RSNA's planning process.

"During the coming year I would like to develop a more sophisticated system of assessing what is being accomplished for each objective within the strategic plan," Dr. Hussey said.

Dr. Hussey's other areas of interest include graduate medical education, altered radiotherapy fractionation schedules, early and late normal tissue radiation injury in large animals, head and neck and genitourinary cancer, and fast neutron radiotherapy. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers and authored more than 38 chapters and textbooks.

He has served as president of the American Radium Society, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Gilbert H. Fletcher Society. He has served on numerous committees in these organizations. He has also served on a variety of committees for the American College of Radiology, including the Residency Review Committee for Radiation Oncology, and has been a member of the radiation study section for the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Hussey was a trustee of the American Board of Radiology until September, where he headed the Examination Committee for Radiation Oncology.

Dr. Hussey has served on several RSNA committees, including the Scientific Program Committee Subcommittee on Therapeutic Radiology and Radiobiology, which he chaired from 1992 to 1995, Inter-Society Council for Radiation Oncology (ISCRO), Committee for Meeting-related Publications, Refresher Course Committee and Ad Hoc Strategic Planning Committee.

Dr. Hussey graduated from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. After completing his internship and residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, he was named a fellow in radiotherapy at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, and was in charge of the fast neutron radiotherapy program using the Texas A&M Variable Energy Cyclotron (TAMVEC).

RSNA is an association of more than 35,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists and related scientists committed to promoting excellence in radiology through education and by fostering research, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill.

David H. Hussey, M.D.