Greetings members!
It was an honor to attend the ASRT House of Delegates meeting held in Reno, NV from June 20-22, 2025! Nick Gimmi, Chair-Elect, and I served as the two delegates for the state of Virginia. Nick mentored the three participants, Regina Jurasek, Angelina Donald, and Elya Miller, for Virginia in the Student Leadership Development Program. He also mentored Andrea Riboldi from Pennsylvania. Thank you Nick!
During the meeting, the ASRT spoke of its many accomplishments and updates. President, Heather Moore provided an update regarding two of the initiatives. The first one was Planting the Seeds Tool Kit. This endeavor reaches kids to encourage their recognition and comfort in receiving exams as well as considering imaging as a career option in the future. The other initiative was Caring for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. This is an online course, little brother and little sister program to provide guidance, friendship, and opportunities to teenagers. Board Chair, Brandon Smith spoke of the DEI initiative and its effect on our Bylaws.
Melissa Purgola, ASRT CEO provided an update on the membership. The ASRT has 155,771 members, an 86% retention rate, and 587 volunteers. There have been 8,733 visits to the ASRT website and over 254,000 households have been reached. The ASRT offers an online CE library, directed reading updates, resource learning programs including CT Basics, CQR preparation resources, credits earned from the store, career roadmaps, advocacy support team, and Ambassadors for RT advocacy. Finally, she stated that $32,000 was awarded this year to the Affiliate Development Program, and 253 Foundation scholarships were awarded for a total of $537,000.
Other ASRT updates include but are not limited to that the imaging aide general curriculum was developed and adopted, the limited x-ray machine operator curriculum was revised, and the magnetic resonance curriculum was revised. Additionally, educational projects completed in 2024 included Cross-Sectional Anatomy: The Series, 10 CE credits and Magnetic Resonance Student Exam Assessment Library, 11,100 question practice tests developed.
The ASRT offers the ASRT Educator Institute. Finally, the House of Delegates discussed/ voted on proposed bylaw amendments as well as amendments to the commission report. One noteworthy item is that the term modality has been replaced by discipline. Another is that the nondiscriminatory statement was revised to a comprehensive statement without naming specific groups.
The ARRT announced updates that included that there are 360,000 RTs and that 570,000 total registries have been taken. Additionally, the ARRT spoke of enhancing their computer technology as well as implementing a multifactor authentication for the website. They also discussed how the annual fee was being restructured to $65. Finally, two new national certifications were discussed. They include the imaging assistant (XX) credential for magnetic resonance and a limited technologist (LT) credential.
Thank you for the opportunity to represent Virginia as one of its delegates at the meeting held in June of 2025. Let’s embrace the opportunities ahead, and together, we will make a lasting impact. I am excited about what we will achieve together!
With respect and gratitude,
Shirley Cherry, Ed.D., R.T.(R)
