The AIUM is a unique organization of professionals passionate about the capabilities and potential of ultrasound to help our patients. With the annual convention freshly over, and a long list of things to work on for next year, I’ve been thinking about the AIUM and why it’s an important group for me.

Although the AIUM is not the primary organization for any of us, that’s what is special and interesting about the AIUM. We all belong to our separate subspecialty interest groups, our tribes, where there is familiarity and comfort in being surrounded by people who are like us, and do what we do, and think like we do. But what other society do you belong to that has the mix of medical and surgical specialties, sonographers, scientists, residents, students, and industry partners? The AIUM’s 19 communities and interest groups cover a diversity of interests and practices and bring people together that in the “real world” of our day-to-day work may find themselves at odds with each other.

And that’s the challenge of the AIUM: to be our best and fulfill our mission of providing the best ultrasound imaging care to our patients means that we have to set aside (at least in part and as best that we can) issues of money, politics, and ego.

This is not always easy.

The world around us is often not encouraging toward cooperation and service to ideals greater than immediate self-interests.

But that’s what AIUM members try to do. Even if it isn’t easy.

If you attended the recent convention in Orlando, I hope that you spent some time attending sessions or talking to people from outside your main area of interest. That’s an opportunity that you just can’t get at other meetings: to exchange ideas and excitement, to challenge and provoke, and ultimately a chance to learn and advance both personally and as medical professionals.

Similarly, the next time you pick up a copy of the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, read an article in an area that you don’t practice. Even if you can’t appreciate the nuances, appreciate the creativity of the work and the varied applications of ultrasound in medicine. There are a lot of bright people out there doing cool things. I would especially recommend reading the basic science articles. The technology, instrumentation, and techniques that we take for granted come from here. You may not fully grasp them any more than I do, but this is where the big leaps are going to come from, and it’s good to know what could be just over the horizon.

I hope that you’ll get as much out of the AIUM as I have over the years. I hope that you’ll step out of your comfort zone and talk with people from other disciplines and interests. I hope that you’ll ask questions and get involved. I hope that the AIUM helps you learn and grow, and that you will help the AIUM to figure out how to do that well. If we can do this together, then we and our patients will be the better for it.

What about your AIUM membership do you find most valuable? How do you benefit from the diversity of medical specialties within the AIUM? Comment below or let us know on Twitter: @AIUM_Ultrasound.

Brian Coley, MD, AIUM President (2017–2019), is radiologist-in-chief and the Frederic N. Silverman chair for pediatric radiology at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, as well as professor of radiology and pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.