The Department of Radiology would like to congratulate Dr. Cristopher A. Meyer, M.D., Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Vice Chair of Finance and Business Development on his recent 2013 President’s Award from the Society of Thoracic Radiology (STR).
Dr. Meyer has been a member of the STR for the past 20 years, and has served on committees for the past 9. He currently chairs the Rules Committee, and was deemed deserving of the award for his extensive work in revising the STR bylaws.
“The previous bylaws didn’t reflect the current makeup of the society,” Meyer noted. Established in 1982, the STR has grown substantially in the past 30 years, and Meyer wanted to help the bylaws reflect such growth. “We had to change the bylaws to correspond to reality… and I hope what we ended up with was a living document that can serve the society in the future.”
The undertaking of such a project, however, was not easy. Meyer estimates that it took a full year of edits and e-mails to modify the bylaws. They were also expanded to include academic integrity and code of ethics sections. Meyer said he did not have any previous experience in Robert’s Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, the special legal language used in such documents.
After being co-authored by Meyer, his committee, and STR president Melissa Rosado de Christenson, M.D., it was then scrutinized by a lawyer and a parliamentarian to ensure the document’s future success. Finally, it had to pass a vote by the society’s executive council, and ultimately the membership at the General Business Meeting.
“I feel like a bit of a nerd after this, because I now receive Robert’s Rules email updates,” Meyer said.
While his own involvement in the project was extensive, Meyer believes that this level of commitment to scientific societies is common among UW radiologists.
“I think this is a very scientifically oriented department. Among research departments in the country, UW ranks highly compared to peer institutions. People in this department enjoy teaching and presenting on a national level, so one leads to the other,” Meyer said.
Meyer’s own involvement in the STR began when he was a member of the Scientific Program Committee. Through his dedication was eventually asked to chair the Rules Committee, which led him to re-write the bylaws.
“When you participate in scientific meetings long enough, people notice and want you involved in the society,” Meyer said. “Because so many of our faculty are involved, there is UW name recognition. Our faculty, across the board, when asked to do something, get it done. That speaks volumes for our program, and makes it so that professional societies want our faculty, both as administrators and scientists.”