Loyola (April 7), Chicago, IL

Technically, this was not an ILVP trip; it was set up prior to my being notified of the Visiting Professorship. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity to promote the mission of the SAR and to spend time with a great group of radiologists. I tried to convince Dr. Joseph Yacoub, Loyola’s newest abdominal imager, to join the SAR (I hope it’s OK that I promised him the presidential suite at the next meeting). Note to the membership committee: send this guy an application!

I also squeezed in dinner downtown with fellow SAR members Aytek Oto at Univ. of Chicago and Frank Miller and Paul Nikolaidis of Northwestern. We did what most men our age do when they get together for dinner- we talked about prostates.  I’m not sure we will be allowed back to that particular restaurant any time soon, but I always learn a lot from those guys. Both centers will be gaining experience with the UroNav system, so I will be eager to see how that goes.

For future visitors, I found the Hampton Inn Westchester to be a good value. They have a nice breakfast, free internet, and a free shuttle to hospital. As a guest of Loyola, you can get a rate of less than $100 a night. That’s about half as much as I spend on cab fare to most SAR meeting venues!

I also learned much on this trip that wasn’t directly related to radiology. For one thing, I learned that Kilwin’s fudge (click kilwins.com to see photos of fudge) looks like a liquid on an airport x-ray machine and leads to a bag search. Oddly, half the fudge was missing when I finally got around to opening it. I tried to convince the gate agent to upgrade me to a seat worthy of my new title, and I learned that “Visiting Professor” translates into “middle seat” in Airlinese. I also learned that retractable landing gear on the Embraer ERJ 145 jet is operated by a hydraulic system under very high pressure. When the hydraulic line springs a leak, it sprays hydraulic fluid all over the gate area, delays unloading of bags, and makes people irritable.  

Fun fact: In addition to being an amazing place for radiology, Chicago came in at #2 on the Weather Channel’s 10 worst winters list this year (second to Toledo, OH).