MICCAI 2018 Daily - Monday

also distinct differences, so I think it’s nice to have both communities together. Also, on the board, we have people from both sides and we have the shared vision that we want to make an impact in the field of medicine. Do you have a message for people coming to the conference for the first time? If you’re here for the first time, I can imagine it’s a little bit daunting. You see so many people and you may think that all of them are so smart or so experienced and you’re so new, but actually, if you’re coming here, you’ve probably already made it! You had some great work, you should be proud of yourself, and you should be happy to engage in the discussions. People here are eager to get into scientific discussions with you to talk about the implications of your work and benefit from all the people that are around. People are very nice! Have you got a message for the people who are at home, whose first paper was not accepted? What can they do differently next time? I hope many people can still come, because the main conference is very difficult to get into. There are many other meetings. If you’re a MICCAI Society member you’ll have access to the proceedings. All the lectures will be taped so they are available. I think part of a scientific career is that both in conferences and in journals sometimes your work will not be acceptable. Use it as a moment to improve on it and the next time hopefully it will be better. My first paper was rejected. And now you’re president of the society! Yeah, you do science for a reason. There are different types of motivations, but in most people, I see the motivation that they really want to understand problems and learn new things, so it’s that curiosity. That’s a very strong force in science. The other is wanting to make an impact, because we are in a technical discipline, but also with biomedical applications. If you keep pursuing your dreams, just give it all your energy and you will get there. Today I met a lady who was at her first conference and she is giving an oral! Yes, there’s a lot of talent. If you’re fresh in the field, perhaps you have totally new insights. I’m always surprised how many good new ideas come from people presenting for the first time. Yesterday, at the board meeting, we had multiple people come in and talk about their new initiatives. We had new teams wanting to present their city for hosting MICCAI 2022. We’re planning four years ahead with the MICCAI Board. Every time we meet passionate people giving passionate talks. It’s a pleasure to see that there’s so much positive energy in the community at the moment. We make sure that every year we have a great MICCAI. 12 A Word fromWiro