Fleischner Society

The Fleischner Society was founded in December 1969 and named after Felix Fleischner, who specialized in chest radiology. The organization's goals are to support chest roentgenology as a clinical specialty, to foster continuing improvement of chest radiology as an art and science, and to improve the methods of teaching radiologic diagnosis of chest disease.

From the description of Records, 1969-1990s. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 80173070

The Fleischner Society, named for radiologist Felix Fleischner (1893-1969), was founded in 1969 to further research in fields related to chest radiology and human chest diseases. Fleischner was a chest radiologist who supported the Society’s formation, but died before its first meeting. Founding members of the Society were Robert G. Fraser (1921-2002, the Society’s first President), Norman Blank (1925-1988), Benjamin Felson (1913-1988), Richard Greenspan (1925-2004), Eric N. C. Milne (1929-), Leo Rigler (1896-1979), George Simon (1902-1977), and Morris Simon (1926-2005). It has since grown into an international and multidisciplinary organization of approximately sixty active members, consisting of both radiologists and non-radiologists. Since at least 1977, the Society has received co-sponsorship for its annual symposia from the American College of Radiology, enabling the Society to offer symposium participants Continuing Medical Education Credit from the American Medical Association.

The Fleischner Society was officially incorporated and chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a charitable organization in 1972, with offices in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston. Offices have since rotated locations based on the annual election of new officers. According to a statement by Lloyd E. Hawes (1912-1988), the Society’s first archivist, the Society also decided to designate the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine as the repository of its records around 1972. The organization is governed by its bylaws, originally adopted in 1972, which address the Society’s objectives, membership, governing body, annual meetings, committees, and elections. Officer elections are held annually. The President, President-elect, and Treasurer-elect are limited to one term, while the Secretary and Treasurer may serve up to three terms. Membership in the Society is by invitation only. There are four types of membership: active; senior; inactive; and honorary, and the bylaws limit the organization to approximately sixty active members. Prospective members must be nominated by an active member, followed by a mandated minimum two-thirds vote of the active membership. Members may serve on committees relating to meetings, membership, officer nomination, Society rules, publications, and the Society’s archives.

The primary focuses of the organization are its annual meetings and symposia, where members meet to share their research and elect new members and officers. A regular component of the annual meeting is the Fleischner Lecture, introduced at the 1971 meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, in which an appointed member lectures on a chosen topic. The annual meeting also serves as the location for awarding the Memorial Fellowship Award, in which a non-member under forty years of age is recognized for original work concerning respiratory system imaging. The award, originally titled the George Simon Memorial Fellowship Award, was first given in 1978, at the San Diego, California meeting. The Society has published numerous works, including: The Fleischner Society: A Quarter Century of Progress (1999); Pulmonary Radiology (1999); and The Fleischner Society: A Thirtieth Anniversary Retrospective (2000). Members also maintain the “Glossary of Terms for Thoracic Radiology,” which has been updated and published several times since 1984 in both Radiology and the American Journal of Roentgenology. More information on the Fleischner Society may be found at its website: http://www.fleischner.org/ .

From the guide to the Fleischner Society records, 1896, 1963-2003 (inclusive), 1969-1994 (bulk)., (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.Center for the History of Medicine.)