Awards

Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award

Application Deadline: November 15, 2011

The Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award promotes excellence in academic research for members early in their careers. This award honors the founding editor of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) by recognizing the importance of the young investigator in developing the interventional solutions for the future.

In 1990, the SIR Foundation established the Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award as a way to recognize promising young practitioners of interventional medicine early in their careers and encourage their pursuit of academic careers. Each year an author of the most outstanding clinical science research paper submitted receives this distinguished award. The primary author must be within 5 years of completion of a fellowship in interventional radiology.

2011 Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award Recipient

William T. Kuo, MD

Dr. William T. Kuo is Assistant Professor and Fellowship Director of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Kuo received a B.S. degree with honors from Duke University and he earned an M.D. degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine with distinction in radiology, winning the Meschan award for radiology excellence. His surgical internship was accomplished at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, WA. He then trained in a combined interventional and diagnostic radiology residency program at the University of Rochester Medical Center where he served as Chief Resident and became one of the first in the nation to complete the Clinical Pathway in Vascular and Interventional Radiology. Following residency, Dr. Kuo received advanced endovascular training by completing his fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center.

Dr. Kuo is an international authority on catheter-directed treatment of acute PE and complex IVC filter retrieval. He is currently principal investigator of the Stanford FILTER (Filter Immediate and LongTerm Evaluation after placement and Retrieval) registry and the multicenter PERFECT (Pulmonary Embolism Response to Fragmentation, Embolectomy, and Catheter Thrombolysis) registry. As a nationally recognized expert, he has testified before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and he has authored multiple seminal papers which have led to improvements in the treatment of venous thromboembolism and new therapies for embedded IVC filters. Dr. Kuo has pioneered the use of endovascular laser technology for complex filter retrieval, as described in his current paper “Photothermal Ablation With the Excimer Laser Sheath Technique for Embedded IVC Filter Removal: Initial Results from a Prospective Study.” His team at Stanford is the first in the world to successfully use this innovative procedure in humans. Dr. Kuo has applied his expertise to treat many patients from around the country, and he has established the Stanford IVC Filter Clinic as a national and international referral center for the management of filter-related complications.

2010 Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award Recipient

Erik Cressman, MD

The 2010 Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award was presented to Dr. Erik Cressman. Dr. Cressman obtained his B.A. in chemistry with a minor in music at Goshen College in northern Indiana. He then pursued doctoral studies in organic chemistry, receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Utah. After several years as an industrial chemist, he returned to medical school graduating from the Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology via the Holman pathway and his fellowship in interventional radiology at Indiana as well. He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota in 2005, received an SIR Foundation Ernest J. Ring Faculty Development Award and since then has obtained funding from the NIH for further work in the area of thermochemical ablation as a new means to treat solid tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition to serving on several SIR Foundation committees he has involved over 40 medical students, graduate students, residents, fellows, and volunteers in research for interventional radiology.

2009 Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award Recipient

Filip Banovac, MD

The 2009 Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award was presented to Dr. Filip Banovac. Dr. Banovac has been a faculty member at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC since 2004. He assumed the position of the Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology in 2008. Filip is a graduate of Duke University with a degree in biomedical engineering. He attended Medical School at Medical College of Virginia where he also completed his internship. He did his Diagnostic Radiology Residency training at Georgetown University and his Fellowship in IR at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.

Filip has been an active member of SIR and serves on a number of committees, mostly focusing on research, research education, and medical education of Residents and Fellows. He served as the Chair of the Communications subcommittee of the SIR Research Policy Committee form 2007-2008. He is also the Program Director of the IR Fellowship and the DIRECT Pathway Residency at Georgetown University.

Filip’s interests in research focus on technology development for precision delivery of instruments into small targets. He and the team of investigators at the ISIS Center at Georgetown University have focused on development of these applications as they relate to Interventional Oncology, specifically ablation of tumors. He authored and co-authored about 80 publications, abstracts and book chapters mostly on technology development in image guided therapy and Interventional Oncology. In his present work titled “Radiofrequency Ablation of Lung Tumors in Swine Assisted by a Navigation Device with Pre-procedural Volumetric Planning” a team of investigators at the Georgetown’s ISIS center explored the role of electromagnetic navigation of RFA probes for purpose of lung tumor ablation in a swine model.

Previous Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award Recipients

2009 - Filip Banovac, MD
2006 - Michael Kuo, MD
2005 - Thomas Jahnke, MD
2004 - Kamran Ahrar, MD
2003 - Kevin Baskin, MD
2002 - Daniel Sze, MD
2001 - David Kallmes, MD
2000 - Jeff Geschwind, MD
1999 - Stephen T. Kee, MD
1998 - Kenneth Moresco , MD
1997 - Michael J. Hallisey, MD
1996 - Richard Shlansky-Goldberg, MD
1995 - Gregory S. Berkey, MD
1994 - Dean A. Nakamoto, MD
1993 - Yonghua Dong, MD
1992 - Moni Stein, MD
1991 - Douglas C. B. Redd, MD
1990 - Max P. Rosen, MD