AFIP Closing - ACR Comes to rescue with AIRP

ACR Launches American Institute for Radiologic Pathology New Radiologic Pathology Course Continues Resident Training after AFIP Closure

Reston, VA — The American College of Radiology (ACR) has launched the American Institute for Radiologic Pathology (AIRP), which will provide a four-week Radiologic-Pathology Correlation Course, given five times per year, beginning in January 2011.

The new AIRP course fulfills all requirements for more than 310 residency programs previously satisfied by the Radiologic-Pathology Correlation Course given at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington, DC. As the Department of Defense is closing Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the AFIP course is held, the AFIP course will not be continued after its September 2010 offering. The new AIRP course allows radiology residents to receive radiologic pathology training uninterrupted by the closure of AFIP.

“The ACR, as the leading voice for the radiology community, is proud to retain and enhance this vital radiologic pathology knowledge base for future generations of radiologists. The AIRP course will allow radiology residents to continue their training without interruption in what could have been an uncertain time regarding radiologic pathology training nationwide. The College has leveraged decades of technological and course development experience to sponsor this cutting-edge course to help ensure that radiology residents are prepared, in this vital aspect of medicine, to pursue fellowship or attending radiologist status,” said John A. Patti, MD, FACR, chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors.

The first four-week session of the new ACR course will begin January 24, 2011, in a state-of-the-art education and cultural center in Silver Spring, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC, approximately two miles from the present AFIP site. The four-week Radiologic Pathology Course is designed to aid residents in their endeavors to achieve excellence in the technologically advancing specialty of radiology by employing radiologic-pathologic correlation in the identification of disease. The Radiologic Pathology course is a comprehensive review of radiologic imaging with pathologic correlation providing more than 200 hours of didactic instruction and case seminars. The course is organized into eight separate sections: gastrointestinal radiology, genitourinary radiology, musculoskeletal radiology, neuroradiology, pediatric radiology, cardiovascular radiology, breast imaging, and thoracic radiology, and is taught by eminent radiology faculty, and numerous distinguished visiting professors.

“This new Radiologic-Pathology Correlation Course offered by ACR allows program directors and radiology administrators worldwide to continue to plan vital radiologic pathology training as a key part of effective residency programs. The location we have selected in Silver Spring is close to the previous course location, provides an excellent venue for this instructional program, and is located close to housing and transportation resources for residents,” said Harvey L. Neiman, MD, FACR, ACR Chief Executive Officer.

Previously, more than 90 percent of all post-MD radiology residents had attended AFIP at some point during their residency. The focus of the training, now provided by AIRP, is to emphasize the correlation between human pathology and the medical images interpreted by radiologists. The radiology community considers this training to be critical to the preparation of its physicians for advanced medical practice.

“The ACR has stepped up to make sure that this valuable knowledge base is not lost with the closing of AFIP. The AIRP course is the latest in an expanding array of robust ACR radiology training programs to prepare residents for the challenges ahead and ultimately make them better physicians who provide the highest quality care to their patients,” said Ronald E. Freedman, ACR Assistant Executive Director for Marketing, Business Development, Research and Radiology Resident Training.

For more information or to arrange an interview with an ACR spokesperson, contact ACR Director of Public Affairs Shawn Farley at 703-648-8936 or sfarley@acr-arrs.org.