Welcome once again to Florence for the 14th EuroCMR meeting, the annual CMR conference of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI). The EuroCMR meeting has become the largest and most important CMR meeting in Europe with an increasing number of attendees, faculty and exhibitors from all over the world.

Overall the meeting is now 2.5 days long including joint sessions with the other sections of the EACVI, with the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), the European Society of Cardiac Radiology (ESCR), and Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC) and more popular case sessions and debates.

The EuroCMR 2016 scientific program firmly focuses on the current clinical application of CMR and this year the program includes several new features.

One exciting new feature this year is the achievement of CMR Level 1 by attending a specific track during the meeting (from the pre-course on Thursday to selected lectures and cases sessions).

> Level 1 Certification Registration

The meeting kicks off with a series of pre-courses aimed at those relatively new to CMR but also at those wishing to refresh their basic CMR knowledge. Following on from the common basic pre-course for all participants, delegates can then select between a congenital and a general track during the following advanced pre-course.

The program will see a rapid fire abstract session and a face-off session where the post-processing software companies present their actual software in a live competition. There will be even more emphasis on ‘meet the expert’ and ‘hands on’ sessions to give delegates the opportunity to interact directly with the world’s leading experts in the field.

At the end of the meeting a ‘World Cup’ session will relive the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final between England and Germany and offer a light-hearted but highly educational showdown to the 2016 EuroCMR meeting.

We are delighted that Professor Albert van Rossum from Amsterdam, Netherlands agreed to deliver the keynote lecture entitled:

“The two-edged sword of reperfusion in myocardial infarction: the role of CMR”

We are always very grateful to all our sponsors, please take time to visit the industry exhibition and speak to the companies.

The meeting app is now in its third year with more exciting features allowing you to even grade the faculty.

CMR working groups of national societies are increasingly involved in the EuroCMR program and we are pleased that travel grants will allow delegates to join our EuroCMR conference for the first time that would otherwise not have been able to afford it.

There will be three prizes:

• best poster,
• best oral abstract
• and best case presentation.

As usual, linked to the EuroCMR meeting (but subject to separate registration), you will also have the opportunity to take the European CMR Exam, a primary requisite to obtain level 2 or level 3 competency certification in CMR.

Once again, we will be delighted to welcoming you to Florence and to join us for EuroCMR2016!

Prof Holger Thiele
EuroCMR 2016 Program Chair

Prof Bernhard Gerber and Dr Tomasz Miszalski
EuroCMR 2016 Abstract Chairs