Society of Interventional Radiology Honors Gold Medalists for Advancing Specialty

Honorees Kyung J. Cho, M.D., FSIR; Dimitris Kelekis, M.D., FSIR and Louis G. Martin, M.D., FSIR, Ensure Future of Interventional Radiology by Advancing Quality of Medicine and Patient Care

SAN FRANCISCO, March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kyung J. Cho, M.D., FSIR; Dimitris Kelekis, M.D., Ph.D., FSIR, and Louis G. Martin, M.D., FSIR, were each awarded SIR's Gold Medal, an honor given to those who have helped ensure the future of interventional radiology by advancing the quality of medicine and patient care, during the Society of Interventional Radiology's 37th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco.

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Kyung J. Cho, M.D., FSIR, professor in the department of radiology, vascular/interventional radiology at University of Michigan Health Systems in Ann Arbor was recognized for his clinical work, research, contributions to the literature and education of residents, fellows, radiologists and referring physicians.

Cho is best known for his research into the application of interventional radiology to a range of procedures and techniques, such as the use of endovascular carbon dioxide, hepatic microcirculations, sclerotherapy and venal caval filters. His research has included selective venous sampling in the localization of endocrine disease, and he has published hundreds of articles in peer-reviewed journals, authored or co-authored dozens of book chapters and published two textbooks.

He is course director for "Practical Training in Vascular Interventions" at the University of Michigan, as well as staff physician at University of Michigan Hospital and consulting physician at the VA Medical Center, all in Ann Arbor. Following a fellowship at the University of Michigan, Cho served as chief of angiography at Wayne County General Hospital, Eloise, Mich., and later became director of interventional radiology at the University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor.

Dimitris Kelekis, M.D., Ph.D., FSIR, EBIR, professor and chair of the Research Center of Radiology and Imaging at Eugenidion University Hospital in Athens, Greece, and a leader in the development of Greek diagnostic and interventional radiology for more than 40 years, is widely credited for improving patient care and physician and public awareness in that country.

Kelekis has developed and chaired a number of radiology and interventional radiology departments—often with limited resources. He has created eight departments of radiology and interventional radiology in Greece. He was also the chairman of the imaging department of the Olympic Games Polyclinic, Athens 2004. He introduced diagnostic angiography, angioplasty, embolotherapy, percutaneous biliary and urinary tract interventions and fallopian tube recanalization into Greek medicine and trained young radiologists to perform these procedures. He is also the creator and chairman of the postgraduate program on interventional radiology of the Medical School of the University of Athens (two year master's degree, approved by Brussels).

Kelekis is the founder and chair of the Hellenic Society of Interventional Radiology, a position he has held since 1990. He has also served as president of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe Foundation.

Louis G. Martin, M.D., FSIR, FACR, professor division of interventional radiology and image guided medicine, Emory University Hospitals: Emory University Hospital, Crawford W. Long Hospital, Grady and the Atlanta Veterans Medical Center, Atlanta, Ga., was honored for his 40 years of commitment to education, service to the society, contributions to the science of the specialty and patient care.

Active in SIR leadership, he has served on its FDA Device Forum since 1997 (which he chaired from 2001–05), the standards of practice committee and several other society committees.

Martin, who received his medical degree from Ohio State University School of Medicine and completed a year of internal medicine at Milwaukee County Hospital, also served two years in the U.S. Air Force. He completed a residency in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship in neuroradiology at Emory University Hospitals.

For more information about these awards or to learn more about the Society of Interventional Radiology, visit www.SIRweb.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. Visit www.SIRweb.org.

The Society of Interventional Radiology is holding its 37th Annual Scientific Meeting March 24–29 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, Calif. The theme of the meeting is "IR Evidence," chosen to reflect interventional radiology's gathering, presenting and discussing results of care-changing investigations.

SOURCE Society of Interventional Radiology