Daniel Picus delivers Dotter lecture; highlights interventional radiology progress

Foundation also announces Leaders in Innovation and Gary J. Becker Young Investigator awards

NEW ORLEANS, April 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Daniel Picus, M.D., FSIR, vice chair of the division of diagnostic radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, Mo., delivered the 2013 Dr. Charles T. Dotter Lecture April 14 at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 38th Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans. This lecture, named for one of the founding fathers of interventional radiology, is supported by the SIR Foundation and acknowledges an interventional radiologist's extraordinary contributions to the field, dedicated service to SIR and distinguished career achievements in interventional radiology.

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Picus, the second editor of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (SIR's official scientific publication) from 1995–2000, is also a professor of radiology and surgery at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine, serving previously as chief of the vascular and interventional radiology section. During his presentation, "In the Blink of an Eye," he explored the many changes in the field of interventional radiology during its 40-year history.

"With a stellar record of professional excellence and dedicated service to the field, Daniel Picus was an obvious choice to deliver this year's Dr. Charles T. Dotter Lecture," said SIR 2011–12 President Marshall E. Hicks, M.D., FSIR, who represents the national society of nearly 5,000 doctors, scientists and allied health professionals dedicated to improving health care through minimally invasive treatments. "He has earned respect as a major voice in the specialty and continues to lead efforts in interventional radiology education," added Hicks, who is also chair of radiology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Picus served as an editor of the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (SCVIR, now SIR) newsletter and served on the editorial boards of Radiology and the Journal of Endourology. In addition to his roles as editor and manuscript reviewer, he has authored or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed manuscripts, numerous book chapters, editorials and scientific abstracts. The current chair of the American College of Radiology Coding and Nomenclature Committee, he also served as chair of the SCVIR (now SIR) Training Programs Committee and councilor of the SCVIR Educational Division. From 1995–2000, he was director-at-large of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Research and Education Foundation (CIRREF, now SIR Foundation).

2013 Leaders in Innovation Award
This year's Leaders in Innovation Award was presented to Barry T. Katzen, M.D., FSIR, FACR, FACC, the founder and current medical director of Baptist Cardiac and Vascular Institute in Miami, Fla. The Leaders in Innovation Award acknowledges individuals who have conceptualized and implemented an idea such as a device, technique, approach or clinical practice model that has a significant improvement upon the quality of patient care or the economics of interventional practice.

Katzen was an early pioneer of angioplasty in the United States, one of the first interventional radiologists to perform a renal angioplasty here. Katzen also served on the research team that led to the general clinical use of the first intravascular stent. He also formed the interventional radiology program at Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va., in 1976, where he established the interventional radiology training program, cardiac catheterization laboratory and noninvasive vascular laboratory, pioneering the use of sophisticated video and audio technology to educate practitioners in the latest techniques and accelerate the advancement of the discipline of interventional radiology. In Miami he created a uniquely multidisciplinary model of clinical practice, emphasizing teamwork and the importance of interventional radiologists as part of the team. As a pioneer in the development of endografts, in 2005 he was asked to lead the team of physicians that successfully treated bilateral popliteal artery aneurysms in Vice President Dick Cheney. In 1988 Katzen founded the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET), a multidisciplinary scientific meeting focused on new technology in endovascular care. In addition to working toward the certification of interventional radiologists by the American Board of Medical Specialties, Katzen is an SIR past president, and a former chair of the American Heart Association's Council of Cardiovascular Radiology and one of the few radiologists with membership in the Society of Vascular Surgery, and Fellowship in the American College of Cardiology

Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award
Joseph P. Erinjeri, M.D., Ph.D, a researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y., is the recipient of this year's Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award. This award, named for the founding editor of JVIR, recognizes the importance of the young investigator in developing interventional solutions for the future. Erinjeri was honored for his work entitled, "Image guided thermal ablation of tumors increases the plasma level of IL-6 and IL-10," an exploration of image-guided ablation and pharmacologic therapy.

Erinjeri earned his medical and doctorate degrees from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., and was the 2012 recipient of an SIR Foundation Dr. Ernest J. Ring Academic Development Grant and the RSNA Research Scholar Award.

Dr. Constantin Cope Medical Student Research Award
In recognition of high-quality research presented by medical students at the Annual Scientific Meeting, six Constantin Cope Medical Student Research Awards were presented April 15.

• Patrick Tyler, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill., "High-field MRI Accurately Quantifies Tumor Uptake of Therapeutic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in McS-RH7777 Rat Model of Liver Cancer"
• Alexander Sheu, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill., "Transcatheter Intra-arterial delivery of Superparamagnetic Iron-oxide-labeled Natural Kill Lymphocytes to Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Longitudinal Efficacy Studies in a Rat Model"
• Sean Woods, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Ark., "Neuroprotective Effects of Dodecafluoropentane Emulsion in an Angiographic Model of Acute Ischemic Stroke in Rabbits"
• Terence Choy, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill., "Alginate Microspheres With Magnetically Triggered Gemcitabine Release"
• Ahmad Parvinian, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, Ill., "Transarterial Sorafenib Chemoembolization: Preliminary Study of Technical Feasibility in a Rabbit Model"
• Kaleb Smithson, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Ark., "Biodegradable Starch Nanoparticles Are a Novel and Potentially Effective and Safe Adjuvant for Sonothrombolysis Especially for More Fibrin-rich, Aged and Rigid Clots"

Frederick S. Keller, M.D., Philanthropist of the Year Award
The Frederick S. Keller, M.D., Philanthropist of the Year Award honors an individual, family, corporation, patient or volunteer, who through exceptional generosity and/or through inspiring others to give demonstrates outstanding commitment to the SIR Foundation. This year's recipient, Anne C. Roberts, M.D., FSIR, is recognized as a dedicated visionary who has fostered the growth of SIR, SIR Foundation and interventional radiology itself over the past several decades. Roberts, professor of clinical radiology and chief of vascular and interventional radiology at the University of California San Diego, joined SIR during her fellowship. Recognizing that a commitment to research ensures that interventional radiology physicians remain at the front line of innovation and that industry will have a strong voice in the specialty's future, she served for three years as co-chair of the Foundation's Discovery Campaign. With her co-chair Frederick S. Keller, M.D., Roberts enabled the most successful membership gifts phase in the Foundation's development history, raising more than $2.7 million to advance interventional radiology through research and education.

For more information about these awards or to learn more about the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation, visit online at www.SIRFoundation.org.

About the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation
SIR Foundation is a scientific foundation dedicated to fostering research and education in interventional radiology for the purposes of advancing scientific knowledge, increasing the number of skilled investigators in interventional radiology and developing innovative therapies that lead to improved patient care and quality of life. Visit www.SIRFoundation.org.

About the Society of Interventional Radiology 
Interventional radiologists are physicians who specialize in minimally invasive, targeted treatments. They offer the most in-depth knowledge of the least invasive treatments available coupled with diagnostic and clinical experience across all specialties. They use X-ray, MRI and other imaging to advance a catheter in the body, such as in an artery, to treat at the source of the disease internally. As the inventors of angioplasty and the catheter-delivered stent, which were first used in the legs to treat peripheral arterial disease, interventional radiologists pioneered minimally invasive modern medicine. Today, interventional oncology is a growing specialty area of interventional radiology. Interventional radiologists can deliver treatments for cancer directly to the tumor without significant side effects or damage to nearby normal tissue.

Many conditions that once required surgery can be treated less invasively by interventional radiologists. Interventional radiology treatments offer less risk, less pain and less recovery time compared to open surgery. This year, SIR celebrates 40 years of innovation and advances in interventional radiology. Visit www.SIRweb.org.

The Society of Interventional Radiology is holding its 38th Annual Scientific Meeting April 13-18, 2013 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The theme of the meeting is 'IR Reaching Out,' adopted to illustrate the many ways the Annual Scientific Meeting provides valuable education to attendees with a broad range of diverse clinical interests and practice settings.

SOURCE Society of Interventional Radiology