Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation awards $191,000 in grants

FAIRFAX, Va.—The Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation recently awarded 13 grants totaling more than $191,000 to encourage the development of interventional radiology research. Grant proposals were reviewed during SIR's 34th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego.

"SIR Foundation is proud to be able to contribute to the advancement of interventional radiology research. The SIR Foundation grant program is designed to benefit researchers at all levels—from medical students to established practitioners—and the grant program provides an excellent return on investment," said Mike Darcy, M.D., FSIR, Foundation chair. "SIR Foundation has awarded more than $2 million in grant funding over the past 15 years, and Foundation grant recipients have subsequently received more than $50 million in all source grant funding, with nearly $40 million being awarded by the National Institutes of Health," added the interventional radiologist at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, Mo.

Dr. Ernest J. Ring Academic Development Grant Clifford R. Weiss, M.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Md., has been named the recipient of the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Dr. Ernest J. Ring Academic Development Grant for his research in "MR-guided Transplantation of Magnetoencapsulated Human Pancreatic Islet Cells in a Diabetic Swine Model." This grant, named after the founder of the SIR Foundation, is designed to provide support to junior interventional radiology faculty members early in their academic careers to allow time for the conduct of research. The goal of this program is to have the grant recipient subsequently obtain additional funding from other sources—for example, NIH grants.

source: SIR

Interventional Radiology: From Sidelines To Mainstream For Patients

The Society of Interventional Radiology hailed the extension of an American College of Radiology resolution in support of clinical patient management by vascular and interventional radiologists as an important reminder of the critical contribution these minimally invasive specialists bring to quality patient health care.

"Passage of ACR's Resolution 22 is a continued endorsement of interventional radiology's unique contribution of supporting innumerable clinical services while providing direct care," said SIR President Brian F. Stainken, M.D., FSIR. "Interventional radiologists provide patients with the least invasive and most advanced treatment options for a wide variety of medical conditions, offering less risk, less pain and less recovery time when compared to open surgery," noted Stainken. ACR endorsed interventional radiology's clinical patient-centered nature 10 years ago, recognizing that interventional radiologists need an office presence, time allocated to see patients, time to consult with referring physicians and time to see patients on the ward, said Stainken, an interventional radiologist at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, R.I. Reaffirmation of that policy came during ACR's 86th Annual Meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference May 5 in Washington, D.C.

source: Medical News Today