History of the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging.

The Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (ASCI) was established in 2006 to improve the healthcare, education, training, quality control, and research in cardiovascular imaging in Asia. The ASCI is presently active, with more than 1400 members from 53 countries. Herein, the evolution and current development of the ASCI are described, including the early history, organization, annual congresses, collaboration with international sister societies, official journal, and the ASCI School. The ASCI has successfully led the development of cardiovascular imaging in Asia and will continue to grow.

INTRODUCTION

Coronary artery disease is one of the leading causes of death in both developing and developed countries [12], and is a major socioeconomic issue due to the high treatment costs [3]. There are at least 49 countries or regions in Asia, which is the largest of the Earth's continents, containing more than 60% of the global population. With the developments in imaging technology in the early 21st century, there was an increased interest in cardiovascular imaging among Asian radiologists. Physicians in Asia had to travel a long way to attend international meetings in the USA and Europe in order to learn about new developments in cardiovascular imaging. As a result, a growing consensus among Asian imaging physicians led to the creation of a new society in Asia to represent and encourage cardiovascular imaging studies in this continent. The hardware and software of various cardiac imaging modalities, such as multidetector computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, echocardiography, CT-positron emission tomography (CT-PET), and MR-PET, have been greatly improved in recent decades. The Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (ASCI) was established in 2006 with a commitment to continuous improvement of healthcare, education, training, quality control, and research in cardiovascular imaging in the largest continent [45].

FOUNDATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE ASCI

On April 29, 2006, the 6th Annual Meeting of the Korean Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (KOSCI) was held at the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel, Seoul, Korea [4]. Professor Tae-Hwan Lim, the president of KOSCI, arranged a meeting of the following representative delegates participating in this Meeting as founding executive committee (EC) members: Professor Yeon Hyeon Choe (founding Secretary General of the ASCI) from Korea, Dr. John Hoe from Singapore, Profs. Yung-Liang Wan and Chin-Ming Jeng from Taiwan, Profs. Zhaoqi Zhang and Zhaoqian Wang from China, Profs. Hajime Sakuma and Kunihiko Teraoka from Japan; Dr. Ching-Hon Luk from Hong Kong; Prof. Hoang Minh Loi from Vietnam; and Prof. Manuel C. Mejia Jr from the Philippines (Fig. 1). At this meeting, Prof. Lim was nominated as the interim president to set the basic outlines of the new society and to organize the first ASCI annual meeting in 2007. In addition to the aforementioned founding delegates in 2006, the other founding EC members included Profs. Jae Hyung Park (Korea), Sachio Kuribayashi (Japan), Teruhito Mochizuki (Japan), and Carmen Chan (Hong Kong). In addition to attendees from Korea, the 6th Annual meeting of KOSCI in 2006 was attended by 36 people from Taiwan, 32 from China, 14 from the Philippines, 12 from Singapore, 6 from Vietnam, 5 from Malaysia, 4 from Japan, 4 from Indonesia, 3 from Germany (speakers), and 1 from Hong Kong.

Fig. 1

Key leaders in founding the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging on April 29, 2006 at Seoul, Korea.

Seated, from left to right: Yeon Hyeon Choe (Korea), Chin-Ming Jeng (Taiwan), Tae Hwan Lim (Korea), Hyun Joo Lee (Bayer), Hoang Minh Loi (Vietnam) and Manuel C. Mejia Jr. (Philippines). Standing, from left to right: Zhaoqian Wang (China), Ching-Hon Luk (Hong Kong), Zhaoqi Zhang (China), Yung-Liang Wan (Taiwan), Hajime Sakuma (Japan), Kunihiko Teraoka (Japan), and John Hoe (Singapore).

The inaugural meeting of ASCI was successfully held at the Asan Medical Center on April 27–28, 2007 (Fig. 2) [5]. A total of 545 doctors from 26 countries attended this meeting. Professor Jae Hyung Park of Korea presided over the congress, and Prof. Tae-Hwan Lim was elected as the first President of the ASCI. At the first General Assembly held during the congress, the by-laws were declared, and the ASCI officers and EC members were officially announced. The objectives of the ASCI were as follows:

Fig. 2

A group photo of the officers and EC members of ASCI after the first EC meeting.

The 1st Annual Meeting of ASCI was held at the Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea io April 27, 2007. Seated, from left to right: Yeon Hyeon Choe (Korea), Sachio Kuribayasi (Japan), Jae Hyung Park (Korea), Tae Hwan Lim (Korea), John Hoe (Singapore) and delegate from Bayer. Standing, from left to right: Hoang Minh Loi (Vietnam), Byoung Wook Choi (Korea), Hajime Sakuma (Japan), Zhaoqian Wang (China), Teruhito Mochizuki (Japan), Zhaoqi Zhang (China), Yung-Liang Wan (Taiwan), Carmen Chen (Hong Kong), Chin-Ming Jeng (Taiwan), Manuel C. Mejia Jr. (Philippines), and delegate from Bayer. ASCI = Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging, EC = executive committee

1) To advance the science and art of cardiovascular imaging through an educational non-profit organization in Asia.

2) To bring together radiologists, cardiologists, and individuals in related fields to improve the level of clinical practice, research, and education related to cardiovascular imaging in Asia.

3) To organize scientific meetings for the sharing of research results, preliminary works, ideas, and knowledge through invited lectures and paper presentations.

4) To provide continuing education through refresher courses, and to disseminate knowledge through the publications of the Society.

THE CURRENT STATUS AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE ASCI

In the inaugural meeting, it was agreed that the Society office would be based in Seoul, Korea. Since the foundation, the Administrative Office located in Seoul takes care of the general society affairs, and the Presidential Office, which rotates according to the term of the President, and the local organizing committee of the ASCI Annual Congress take care of the tasks related to the organization and conduct of the annual congresses, respectively. This allocation of responsibilities helps to maximize efficiency and balance the Society's operations.

The officers of the ASCI are follows: President, Immediate Past President, President-Elect, three Vice-Presidents, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, Secretary-General of the Administrative Office, Treasurer, Officer for Scientific Affairs, International Liaison Officer, Administrative Officer, Editor of the ASCI Journal, Congress President, Information Officer, Officer for Quality Assurance, Ordinary Committee Members (no more than two members per participating country), Officer of Clinical Research, Chair of the ASCI School, and Membership Officer. Tables 1 and 2 show the current officers and the EC members of the Society, respectively.

Table 1

Current Officers of the ASCI

ASCI Officers
Advisory committee	Tae-Hwan Lim	Korea
	Sachio Kuribayashi	Japan
	Oraporn See	Thailand
International advisory committee	John Hoe	Singapore
	Yeon Hyeon Choe	Korea
	Lilian Leong	Hong Kong
President	Yung-Liang Wan	Taiwan
Immediate past-president	Hajime Sakuma	Japan
Vice-presidents	Bin Lu	China
	Jongmin Lee	Korea
	Ming Ting Wu	Taiwan
President-elect	Bin Lu	China
Auditor	Tae Hoon Kim	Korea
	Chun-Ho Yun	Taiwan
PO
Secretary general for PO	Shyh-Jye Chen	Taiwan
Assistant secretary general for PO	Jung Im Jung	Korea
International liaisons	Tan Swee Yaw	Singapore
International liaisons	Stephen Cheung	Hong Kong
Scientific affairs	Wen Yih Tseng	Taiwan
International fellowship	Akira Kurata	Japan
Membership officer	Shihua Zhao	China
Congress president	Hoang Minh Loi	Vietnam
AO
Secretary general for AO	Bae Young Lee	Korea
Assistant secretary general for AO	Whal Lee	Korea
Treasurer	Hwan Seok Yong	Korea
Journal editor	Sang Il Choi	Korea
International liaisons	Sung Min Ko	Korea
International liaisons	Carmen Chan	Hong Kong
Officer of clinical research	Dong Hyun Yang	Korea
Scientific affairs	Jin Hur	Korea
Information officer	Sung Ho Hwang	Korea
Chair of ASCI school	Jongmin Lee	Korea
Officer for quality assurance	Joon-Won Kang	Korea

AO = administration office, ASCI = Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging, PO = office of the president

Table 2

Current Executive Committee Members of the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging

Executive Committee
Chairman	Yung-Liang Wan	Taiwan
Secretary general of presidential office	Shyh-Jye Chen	Taiwan
Secretary general of administrative office	Bae Young Lee	Korea
Members (in alphabetical order of country)	Leanne Du	Australia
	Gary Liew	Australia
	Bin Lu	China
	Yining Wang	China
	Sanjaya Viswamitra	India
	Lusiani Rusdi	Indonesia
	Jacub Pandelaki	Indonesia
	Zahra Alizadeh Sani	Iran
	Teruhito Mochizuki	Japan
	Yeon Hyeon Choe	Korea
	Eui-Young Choi	Korea
	Norzailin Abu Bakar	Malaysia
	Lynette Teo	Singapore
	Yeun Chung Chang	Taiwan
	Sutipong Jongjirasiri	Thailand
	Rungroj Krittayaphong	Thailand
	Trang Nguyen Ngoc	Viet Nam
	Hoai Thi Thu Nguyen	Viet Nam

The President is elected at the EC Meeting. The term is two years. The Congress President is elected every two years at the annual committee meeting. The term of the Editor of the ASCI Journal and Chair of the ASCI School is four years. The President has the right to nominate other officers of the committee. Table 3 shows a list of the Presidents of the ASCI from 2007 to 2021. Professor Bin Lu from China is the incoming President of the ASCI for the period 2021–2023.

Table 3

Presidents of the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging from 2007 to 2021

Year	President	Country
2007–2011	Tae-Hwan Lim	Korea
2011–2013	Sachio Kuribayashi	Japan
2013–2015	John Hoe	Singapore
2015–2017	Yeon Hyeon Choe	Korean
2017–2019	Hajime Sakuma	Japan
2019–2021	Yung-Liang Wan	Taiwan

All members of the committee may be re-elected to the same or related post for a consecutive term of office. Committee members can serve for a maximum of two successive terms in the same post but may be re-elected to the same position after at least one term out of that post. The committee member may continue to serve in the committee in another post during that period. The candidates must be officially recommended by their respective national societies of cardiovascular imaging. The term for ordinary committee members is three years, and they may be re-nominated for one more term. EC members can recommend candidates as ordinary committee members. The ASCI was established in 2006 and is now 13 years old [45]. There are 32 ASCI officers and 20 EC members. They are from 13 countries or affiliated societies, namely, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The affiliated societies are principal independent organizations committed to further developing cardiovascular imaging through education, quality control, research, and training.

THE ASCI ANNUAL CONGRESS

The ASCI Annual Congress has been held twice in China (2013 and 2018), Japan (2009 and 2017), Korea (2007 and 2014), Singapore (2008 and 2016), and Taiwan (2010 and 2019) (Fig. 3), and once in Hong Kong (2011), Malaysia (2015), and Thailand (2012). The ASCI Annual Congress of 2020 in Danang City, Vietnam in August 2020 was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The congress will be held at the same venue and city on August 19–21, 2021. Table 4 shows the annual congresses of the ASCI held over the past 13 years. Figures 4 and 5 show the Congress Presidents and the Program Book Covers of the Annual Scientific Meetings from 2007 to 2019. The ASCI Outstanding Award, ASCI Gold Medal, and Best Young Presenter Award (BYPA) are bestowed during the ASCI Annual Congress.

Fig. 3

A group photo of the officers and EC members of ASCI taken after the EC meeting during the 13the Annual Congress of ASCI which was held at Taipei, Taiwan on March 21–23, 2019.

ASCI = Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging, EC = executive committee

Table 4

Annual Congress and the Congress President of Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging

Congress	Date	Venue	Congress President	Number of Participants
1st	April 27–28, 2007	Asan Medical Center, Seoul	Jae Hyung Park, Tae-Hwan Lim	545 from 26 countries
2nd	April 19–20, 2008	Furama Riverfront Hotel, Singapore	John Hoe	602 from 22 countries
3rd	June 5–6, 2009	Tokyo Conference Center Shinagawa, Shinagawa	Sachio Kuribayashi	355 from 14 countries
4th	March 19–20, 2010	Taipei International Convention Center, Taipei	Yung-Liang Wan	1012 from 11 countries
5th	June 17–19, 2011	Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong	Lilian Leong	1032 from 33 countries
6th	June 7–9, 2012	Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Center at Centralworld, Bangkok	Oraporn See	567 from 32 countries
7th	August 17–18, 2013	China National Convention Center, Beijing	Zhaoqi Zhang	433 from 22 countries
8th	June 12–14, 2014	Lotte Hotel Jeju, Jeju	Yeon Hyeon Choe	627 from 25 countries
9th	June 11–13, 2015	Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur	Sim Hui Kian	290 from 21 countries
10th	August 4–6, 2016	Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore	Tan Swee Yaw	755 from 32 countries
11th	June 1–3, 2017	Westin Miyako Hotel, Kyoto	Hajime Sakuma	604 from 22 countries
12th	August 16–18, 2018	China National Convention Center, Beijing	Zheng-Yu Jin	750 from 21 countries
13th	March 21–23, 2019	Howard Civil International Service House, Taipei	Yeun-Chung Chang	403 from 21 countries

Fig. 4

Presidents of the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging from 2007 to 2021.

Fig. 5

The program book covers and dates of the 1st to 13th Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging Congresses from 2007 to 2019.

The ASCI Outstanding Award was set up in 2015 to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of ASCI members. The candidate is nominated by the President, reviewed by the nomination committee for the ASCI Outstanding Award, and finally confirmed by EC voting. Table 5 shows a list of the recipients of the Outstanding Award. The ASCI Gold Medal is awarded to an individual to recognize his or her outstanding academic achievements in the ASCI. The nomination committee considers the list of publications of each nominee and their participation in ASCI activities in the selection of the Gold Medalist. Table 6 shows a list of the recipients of the Gold Medal. In order to encourage and foster young physicians and scientists, the BYPA was instituted in 2010 to recognize young doctors for their research work and presentation skills. Table 7 shows a list of the winners of the ASCI BYPA over the past ten years.

Table 5

List of the Recipients of Outstanding Award in the Last 5 Years from 2014 to 2019

Year	Name	Country
2014	Tae-Hwan Lim	Korea
2015	Zhaoqi Zhang	China
2016	John Hoe	Singapore
2017	Sachio Kuribayashi	Japan
2018	Yeon Hyeon Choe	Korea
2019	Yung Liang Wan	Taiwan

Table 6

List of the Recipients of the Gold Medal Award in the Last 6 Years from 2014 to 2019

Year	Name	Country
2014	Hajime Sakuma	Japan
2015	Shihua Zhao	China
2016	Byoung Wook Choi	Korea
2017	Bin Lu	China
2018	Whal Lee	Korea
2019	Hyunwoo Goo	Korea

Table 7

List of the Winners of Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging Best Young Presenter Award

Year	Name	Country	Title
2010	I-Chen Tsai	Taiwan	Global and regional wall motion abnormalities of pacing-induced heart failure assessed by multi detector CT: a patient and canine model study
2011	Michael Sun	Hong Kong	Can cardiac MRI predict graft rejection and heart failure in post-heart transplant patients?
2012	Sung Mok Kim	Korea	Adenosine-stress dynamic myocardial perfusion imaging using 128-slice dual-source CT: incremental diagnostic value in the detection of significant coronary artery stenosis
2013	Yoshitaka Goto	Japan	Transmural perfusion ratio derived from CT-based absolute quantification of myocardial blood flow showed high diagnostic performance for detecting significant coronary artery disease
2014	Young Joo Suh	Korea	The utility of cardiac computed tomography for evaluation of pannus formation in mechanical aortic valve
2015	She Hoi Lam Helen	Hong Kong	Cardiac MRI parameters in prediction of atrial fibrillation in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
2016	Charlene Liew	Singapore	An assessment of the impact of patient factors on three-dimensional high resolution late gadolinium enhancement with compressed sensing
2017	Nobuo Tomizawa	Japan	Evaluation of myocardial inflammation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with hybrid cardiac PET/MRI
2018	Sung Ho Hwang	Korea	Left atrial remodeling determined with three-dimensional late gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance imaging in patients with atrial fibrillation: regional left atrial fibrosis
2019	Zhennan Li	China	predictive models for early adverse aorta-related events in patients with Type A intramural hematoma: a clinical and CT based analysis

COLLABORATION WITH SISTER SOCIETIES

It is ASCI's privilege to have a collaboration and exchange programs with sister societies, including the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), the European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (ESCR), the North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging (NASCI), the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT), and the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) [6]. Outstanding speakers from these sister societies are invited to the annual congress of the ASCI to strengthen the ASCI's annual scientific meeting program.

To promote and continue effective working relationships between the ASCI and its sister societies, there are memoranda of understanding among the societies. These agreements are not binding and are not intended to create any legally enforceable rights, obligations, or restrictions. Instead, the aims of the memoranda are to at least clearly set out the level of collaboration between the ASCI and its sister societies regarding invitations as speakers at the annual scientific meetings of the societies. Basically, each Society's leadership will recommend two speakers for the annual scientific meeting of the sister society. The Society will provide free registration to the meeting and up to a few nights of accommodation at a preselected hotel to the selected speakers. The fees for attending social functions that are part of the meeting will also be provided. The content of the speakers' lectures will be decided through communication between the offices of the two societies, the program committees, and the speakers themselves.

In addition to the annual scientific meeting, the ASCI has played an essential role in cardiovascular imaging education in Asia via events such as the publication of an official journal, Cardiovascular Imaging Asia (CVIA), published since 2017, and the establishment of the ASCI School in 2018.

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE ASCI: CVIA

The ASCI promotes publishing scientific papers to present and propagate the scientific activities of its members. The ASCI, in collaboration with the International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging, which is the official journal of NASCI, published 13 ASCI Special Issues from April 2009 to June 2016, with Professor Yeon Hyeon Choe (ASCI President for a period between 2015 and 2017) as a Guest Editor (Adjunct Editor) of the journal. Then, the ASCI's own journal was pursued by Professor Choe and ASCI officers, and finally CVIA was successfully launched by Professor Tae-Hoon Kim, its first Editor-in-Chief, in 2017 [7]. CVIA is the official journal of the ASCI and plays a crucial role in the diagnosis, optimal management, and improvement of outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease in Asia. The journal has been one of the most important accomplishments and a substantial milestone of the ASCI. It continues to be fostered by the current Editor-in-Chief, Professor Sang-Il Choi [8]. CVIA is a professional, peer-reviewed journal covering imaging of all kinds of cardiovascular diseases, and publishes original articles, review articles, pictorial essays, case reports, and letters to the Editor. The journal is published in English four times a year on January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31. The journal is simultaneously published in print and on the official website (http://www.e-cvia.org). Currently, the CVIA is under review for a possible inclusion in Emerging Sources Citation Index by Clarivate Analytics, and the result will be available next year. In addition to this database, the editorial office of CVIA is preparing to apply to other database systems, such as PubMed and Scopus.

The journal targets physicians and other healthcare practitioners with an interest in cardiovascular diseases and imaging, such as general diagnostic cardiologists and radiologists, cardiovascular radiologists, imaging cardiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, pulmonologists, internists, cardiothoracic surgeons, pathologists, and physicians-in-training. It is also directed at medical physicists, scientists, engineers, and informatics specialists working on the development of imaging tools, contrast agents, or data processing for the study of cardiovascular diseases as well as representatives from the industries, organizations, and governments involved in providing products or policies for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

THE ASCI SCHOOL

To concentrate the ASCI's academic resources and for more efficient conduction of the ASCI's educational activities, the School of ASCI (the ASCI School) was founded. The ASCI School is chaired by Professor Jongmin Lee. The school comprises: 1) The ASCI Cube program, Professor Hwan Seok Yong is the current director) to foster young and intelligent ASCI members; 2) the ASCI Joint Symposium (directed by Professor Kakuya Kitagawa) to support the academic activities of the Asian–Oceanian national societies; 3) the ASCI Speaker Bureau (Directed by Professor Whal Lee), instituted in 2018 to train ASCI members to become distinguished speakers for academic meetings; 4) practical tutorials (Professor Dong Hyun Yang is the current director) to train and improve clinical practice for cardiovascular imaging; and 5) ASCI LIVE (directed by Jongmin Lee) to provide information to and update the knowledge of ASCI members online. Table 8 shows the current directors of the ASCI School.

Table 8

ASCI Subcommittees

Subcommittees	Chair
Multicenter research committee	Dong Hyun Yang (Korea)/officer of clinical research
Nomination committee	- Gold Medal: Jin Hur (Korea)/officer of the scientific affair, administration office
	- Outstanding: The three vice-presidents of ASCI are taking turns of being the chair of the nominating committee for the outstanding award
Congenital heart disease study group	Hyun Woo Goo (Korea)
Certificate program committee	Joon-Won Kang (Korea)/officer for quality assurance officer
Nominating committee for president-elect	Lilian Leong (Hong Kong)
Visiting fellowship program	Akira Kurata (Japan)/international fellowship officer

ASCI = Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging

The ASCI launched its [ASCI]2 (Advanced School for Core Investigators from the ASCI) Program in 2010 under the direction of Professor Tae-Hwan Lim to recruit young ASCI members of high potential and train them to become representative scholars of Asia who will lecture at international meetings. In 2017, [ASCI]2 was renamed ASCI Cube ([ASCI]3)—the Advanced School for Core Investigators in the ASCI School of Cardiovascular Imaging of the ASCI. There are special lectures in the program, and in each main session, trainees have a chance to present their papers, so that the tutors and co-tutors can provide insightful comments on how to improve these works. At the welcome and farewell dinners, participants are able to socialize with one another to get to know each other better. Professor Jongmin Lee was the Program Director from 2010 to 2013 and Professor Whal Lee from 2014 to 2017. Professor Hwan Seok Yong has been the current program director since 2018.

The mission of the ASCI Joint Symposium is to support the academic activities of the Asian–Oceanian local national societies, to ensure international lecture opportunities for ASCI speakers, and to promote the appropriate use of cardiac imaging in Asian countries. The ASCI Joint Symposium is organized as a half- or full-day symposium during local cardiac imaging events based on collaboration between speakers from the ASCI and the hosting society. Joint symposiums have been held in Indonesia, India, Korea, China, Singapore, Iran, Myanmar, and Taiwan.

The mission of the ASCI Speaker Bureau is to train ASCI members to be distinguishing speakers at academic meetings. The target trainees are those who are starting their careers as international speakers. The mission of the ASCI practical tutorial is to train ASCI members in clinical practice for cardiovascular imaging, thereby supporting ASCI members to start or to improve their cardiovascular imaging activities [9].

The mission of ASCI LIVE is to share information with and to update the knowledge of academic leaders and ASCI members and to provide basic knowledge about cardiovascular imaging to ASCI members online. It is streamed to all ASCI members, and recorded videos are provided to ASCI members for a fee.

THE ASCI SUBCOMMITTEES

The ASCI started various subcommittees and programs to expedite the development of cardiovascular imaging in Asia [10]. The first subcommittee of the ASCI, the Cardiac Computed Tomography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Guideline Working Group (Asian CCT & CMR Guideline Working Group) no longer operates since the publication of several articles in 2010 [11121314]. Table 8 shows the current subcommittees and chairs. The Congenital Heart Disease Study Group meets regularly and publishes several papers [151617]. The certificate program committee organizes the Certification Course in Proficiency in Cardiac CT. The first course was held in Singapore on January 20, 2019.