SIR Announces New President, Fellows and Annual Awards

Robert J Lewandowski, MD, FSIR, an interventional radiologist and professor at Northwestern Medicine Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago) was named president of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) during the SIR 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting in Salt Lake City.  

“Throughout the last 50 years, SIR has enabled the specialty to grow in an evolving healthcare landscape, providing IRs with the education, resources, and support required for members to thrive,” said Dr Lewandowski. “As we look forward, SIR remains committed to fostering healthcare innovations that improve patients’ lives worldwide.” 

Other incoming officers of SIR’s 2024–2025 Board of Directors include President-elect Robert A Lookstein, MD, FSIR, Mount Sinai Health System and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York; newly appointed Secretary Saher S Sabri, MD, FSIR, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital; and Immediate Past-president Alda L Tam, MD, MBA, FSIR, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

Incoming SIR Board of Directors at-large include: Kelvin Hong, MD, FSIR and Nishita Kothary, MD, FSIR.

SIR also presented its highest honor, the SIR Gold Medal, to Fred T Lee Jr., MD; Albert A. Nemcek, Jr, MD, FSIR; and Bien Soo Tan, MD; during its Annual Scientific Meeting. These awards acknowledge distinguished and extraordinary service to SIR or to the specialty of interventional radiology. 

The Leader in Innovation Award was presented to Suresh Vedantham, MD, FSIR. The 2017–18 SIR president, Dr Vedantham is widely recognized as a distinguished leader in the clinical delivery and rigorous investigation of image-guided therapies for venous thromboembolism (VTE). A central accomplishment of his career has been in defining a pathway for interventional radiologists to obtain large-scale National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support.

Thirty-four new fellows who have demonstrated excellence in interventional radiology by virtue of research and published works, teaching, and leadership within the field, along with contributions and involvement within the society were also inducted. They include:

• Noor Ahmad, MD, FSIR, Columbia University, New York
• Osman Ahmed, MD, FSIR, University of Chicago
• Parag M Amin, MD, FSIR, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, Fla.
• Aparna Annam, DO, FSIR, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, Colo.
• Thomas D Atwell, MD, FSIR, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
• Zachary L Bercu, MD, FSIR, Emory University, Atlanta
• Seth J Berkowitz, MD, FSIR, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston
• Aaron R Brandis, MD, FSIR, Atlantic Medical Imaging, Galloway, N.J.
• Seetharam C Chadalavada, MD, FSIR, University of Cincinnati
• David H Field, MD, FSIR, MedStar Georgetown University, Washington
• Gaby E Gabriel, MD, FSIR, University of Kentucky, Lexington
• Charles Gilliland, MD, FSIR, Summit Radiology, Cartersville, Ga.
• Guillermo Gonzalez-Araiza, MD, FSIR, West County Radiological Group, Saint Louis
• Christopher J Grilli, DO, FSIR, Christiana Care, Newark, N.J.
• Andew John Gunn, MD, FSIR, University of Alabama at Birmingham                    
• Jack W Jennings, MD, PhD, FSIR, Washington University in St. Louis
• Robert J Kennedy, MD, FSIR, Interventional and Vascular Center, Melbourne, Fla.
• Joshua D Kuban, MD, FSIR, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
• Robert P Liddell, MD, FSIR, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
• Kumar Madassery, MD, FSIR, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
• Eric J Monroe, MD, FSIR, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.
• Govindarajan Narayanan, MD, FSIR, Baptist Health of South Florida, Miami
• Michael Neuwirth, MD, FSIR, Progressive Physician Associates, Bethlehem, Pa.
• Keith Pereira, MD, FSIR, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis
• Adam N Plotnik, MD, FSIR, University California of Los Angeles
• Jason T Salsamendi, MD, FSIR, City of Hope National Medical Center, Irvine, Calif.
• Rahul A Sheth, MD, FSIR, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
• Avnesh S Thakor, MD, FSIR, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. 
• Steven M Yevich, MD, MPH, FSIR, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston

Associate Fellows inducted include:

• Mark O Baerlocher, MD, FSIR, Royal Victoria Hospital, Barrie, Ontario, Canada
• Murthy Chennapragada, MD, FSIR, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia
• Aaron Kyle Jones, PhD, FSIR, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
• Almamoon I Justaniah, MD, FSIR, King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Miyuki Sone, MD, FSIR, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo