Welcome to the #RADxx tweet chat recap. Whew, say that 5x times fast. During our live tweet chat, we could barely keep up with the ideas, opinions, and input being thrown in by both women and men in the radiology and informatics space.
The tweet chat was hosted on December 21st by Dr. Geraldine McGinty, a radiologist and influencer in the space, and Mini Peiris, CMO of Ambra Health. Mini and Dr. McGinty officially launched RADxx at RSNA 2016 with the goal of producing a mentoring and networking opportunity for women in radiology and informatics.
Dr. McGinty kicked off the chat and quite and others were quick to jump in. 
Dr. McGinty then posed the first question to the group.
A few cited the ability to impact public health as a reason for their interest. Radiology certainly plays a big role in population health with mammography and now, CT colonography and lung screenings acting as key methods of early cancer detection and prevention.
Others, however, noted that someone else had mentored them along the way. Across medical specialities (and careers), positive mentors can have a huge impact on encouraging an individual to pursue a path they may have once found challenging.
Dr. McGinty then posed question number two.
Some suggested that informatics should be a standard part of residency and fellowship training.
Question 3 asked #RADxx members what challenges they faced when entering the field. 
Some noted that devoting the time and energy to pursuing informatics knowledge is difficult, particularly when there is little access to staff involved in informatics like CIOS.
But…it wasn’t long before the importance of mentorship brought up again. However, this time around, an emphasis was placed on the fact that mentorship must be bi-directional. Those that wish to be mentored must seek them out just as mentors must seek out the younger generation.
Finally, Dr. McGinty asked the group to share 1 idea to increase diversity in radiology and informatics. We’ve shared a few of our favorites below.
One of the ideas and thoughts shared most frequently throughout the tweet chat was that an inventory of radiology and informatic resources be pooled together to create an invaluable library. The American College of Radiology has excellent resources that can be found here. We encourage all to share additional resources with us – follow #RADxx on Twitter to continue the discussion.
Catherine Slotnick is a passionate healthcare marketer with a deep interest in the latest & greatest in the Health IT space. As Ambra Health's marketing manager, Catherine primarily focuses on creating and sharing thought leadership content in the radiology and informatics space. Catherine graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Psychology & Art History. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and petting dogs that aren't hers.
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