Got Abstracts?

The other day the SNM sent out a message saying that nuclear medicine students had until Feb.7 to submit abstracts for the SNM annual meeting this June in New Orleans. That reminded me of when I was a student at William Beaumont School of Nuclear Medicine in 1983 and we were required to research and write up an experiment for our class. All of us groaned. We thought then that researching and writing were things we were never going to use. Later, however, the experience of conducting a research experiment and writing it up helped when I eventually decided to submit an abstract to the SNMTS annual meeting on a lung-scan protocol I had developed.

Eventually, I submitted 11 abstracts on different nuclear medicine research projects and all but two were accepted, either for oral or poster presentation. Although each took time and effort, I felt I was amply rewarded for the efforts. First of all, it was nice to get feedback from the audience and it made me feel good to be sharing my knowledge with others.

A couple of times, it also helped when I wanted to go to the SNM meeting but the hospital was hesitant to pay. Having an abstract accepted for presentation is sometimes the weight that tips the balance in favor of attendance. One time Elscint (now a part of GE) helped with some of the expenses, because my paper directly related to a product of theirs. I was happy, therefore, that I won third place that year for my oral presentation. I had two posters that year as well, which was a lot of work and something I do not recommend. I really wanted to go to the meeting that year; however, so I submitted three abstracts and, wouldn't you know, I got the all of them accepted. 

The experience of writing up the abstracts and the presentations helped me improve my communication skills, which eventually led me to start writing for ADVANCE in 1990 and, seven years later, to joining the magazine as a technical editor. I do have to admit, however, that my major in college during the 1960s was mass communications, although it was broadcasting, rather than journalism that I studied.

For students who have already done papers for their class or are working on such a project, submitting an abstract of this work to the SNMTS will help show your commitment to professionalism, which might be very helpful when looking for that first job. There are also opportunities for submitting papers to some of the local SNMTS meetings and, of course, the JNMT is always looking for submissions.

And for those who might be intimidated by the thought of an academic presentation, or might have started too late, remember that here at ADVANCE, we are always looking for interesting articles from those in the field, even students. In addition, we give an honorarium (small amount of money) for anything we publish. So get your pens and pencils out, start thinking up good ideas and get busy writing.