RSNA Press Release

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Radiologist William W. Mayo-Smith, M.D., from Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, will bring his medical expertise to Bolivia as part of the International Visiting Professor Program offered by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The program fosters international relations among radiology societies to assist with medical education in developing and newly developed nations.

Dr. Mayo-Smith, professor of radiology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, will be joined by one fellow radiologist as he embarks September 20 on the 10-day trip. He will spend his visit giving presentations and teaching intensive seminars to members of Bolivian radiology societies and hospital radiology departments.

The program is mutually beneficial. The visiting team of radiologists informs local doctors and hospitals about the latest advances in diagnostic and therapeutic radiology. In turn, the visiting professors experience firsthand the obstacles faced by medical professionals in the host countries.

"This program is important to promote education and cultural exchange between academic departments in North America and our colleagues throughout the world with the mission of improving patient care," Dr. Mayo-Smith said.

Dr. Mayo-Smith, who is also the director of body imaging & intervention at Rhode Island Hospital, is accompanied by Laura W. Bancroft, M.D., from Florida Hospital in Orlando. Locations of the presentations in Bolivia include Hospital Obrero, Hospital Materno Infantil and the annual meeting of the Bolivian Radiological Society in La Paz.

The International Visiting Professors Program was founded in 1986 and is administered by RSNA's Committee on International Relations and Education (CIRE).

RSNA is an association of more than 43,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to excellence in patient care through education and research. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

The RSNA Committee on International Relations and Education was established in 1986 to advise the RSNA on how the Society might provide international assistance to enhance radiologic education in countries requesting and requiring assistance. (RSNA.org/International/CIRE)