The Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) conferred its highest honor, the SIR Gold Medal, to three interventional radiologists at its SIR 2016 meeting in Vancouver, Canada, this week.
The medalists were honored because of their "distinguished and extraordinary" service to SIR or to the discipline of interventional radiology, according to a SIR press release.
Dr. Ernest Ferris. Ferris is considered a pioneer in interventional radiology for his work on the anatomy and embryology of the inferior vena cava (IVC), and with IVC filters. He retired in 2008 from his position as professor and chairman of the department of radiology at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock. Before that, he was chief of diagnostic radiology at Boston University Hospital, and chief of neuroradiology and cardiovascular radiology at Boston City Hospital and Boston University School of Medicine. He was also one of the first recipients of a certificate of added qualifications (CAQ) in vascular and interventional radiology.
Dr. Ho-Young Song, PhD. Currently a professor of radiology at Asan Medical Center at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, Song has focused his career on developing stents for treating benign and malignant strictures of the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, colon, rectum, and bile ducts. He holds 26 medical device patents, including U.S. and European patents for a self-expanding endovascular stent. Song was named "Most Distinguished Scientist" by the South Korean government in 2008.
Dr. Robert L. Vogelzang. Vogelzang is a past president of SIR, and since 1985 he has been the chief of vascular and interventional radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He has been involved in research and contributing knowledge to interventional radiology by authoring more than 100 scientific papers and more than 50 book chapters. His areas of clinical expertise include the treatment of vascular malformations, uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), and placement and retrieval of retrievable IVC filters.
