Gold Medal

Gold Medal Policy

Gold Medal Nomination Policy of the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR).

Purpose

The APSCVIR Gold Medal was established in 2010 to recognize the excellence and lifetime achievements in Interventional Radiology among the Individual Members of APSCVIR. It will be bestowed to those who have made an exceptional contribution to the field by their outstanding achievements.

Criteria for Eligibility

The APSCVIR Executive Committee (EC) will award the Gold Medal to Individual Members who have rendered extraordinary service to the Society or to the discipline of Interventional Radiology, such as education, basic research, clinical investigations, and activities in academic organizations or related groups.

Nomination of Candidates

One Gold Medal nominee can be proposed by the EC members from each territory in APSCVIR. Two persons will be awarded at the Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM). Individual Members are eligible for this award. Each territory may nominate only one person each time.

Nomination Deadline

The names of nominated candidates should be submitted to the APSCVIR Secretariat when called by the Executive Board in advance of each ASM.

Final Decision for the Award

The EC will make the final decision with respect to the nominees for the Gold Medal at least 3 months before the ASM. The 2 successful Gold Medallists will be decided by a majority vote among the EC members. Each voting member of the EC will have 2 votes each.

Gold Medallist Acknowledgement

APSCVIR Gold Medallists (past and present) who attend the APSCVIR ASM will be acknowledged at the meeting in the following ways:

View Details

  1. Registration fee is waived (not inclusive of any social events not included in the registration)
  2. A Gold Medallist lunch will be arranged for all past and present Gold Medallists attending the meeting, hosted by the Executive Board.

View Less

APSCVIR Gold Medallists

Yasuaki Arai

Japan
Read Details

Young-Soo Do

South Korea

Jae Kyu Kim

South Korea
Read Details

Simon Chun Ho Yu

Hong Kong

Andrew Holden

Australasia
Read Details

Kimihiko Kichikawa

Japan

Tan Bien Soo

Singapore

Shozo Hirota

Japan

Alex Tang

Malaysia

Abdul Samad Sakijan

Malaysia

Gao-Jun Teng

China

Masatoshi Okazaki

Japan

Robert Allen

Australia

Nara Vaeusorn

Thailand

Ke Xu

China

Kyu-Bo Sung

Republic of Korea

Osamu Matsui

Japan

Jae Hyung Park

Republic of Korea

Sanjiv Sharma

India

Hideo Uchida

Japan

Li, Lin-sun

China

Ryusaku Yamada

Japan

Thomson, Kenneth

Australia

Han, Man Chung

Republic of Korea

Hiramatsu, Kyoichi

Japan

Tan, Lenny

Singapore
+ 2021

Yasuaki Arai

Japan
Read Details

Young-Soo Do

South Korea
+ 2023

Jae Kyu Kim

South Korea
Read Details

Simon Chun Ho Yu

Hong Kong
+ 2022

Andrew Holden

Australasia
Read Details

Kimihiko Kichikawa

Japan

Tan Bien Soo

Singapore
+ 2020

Shozo Hirota

Japan

Alex Tang

Malaysia
+ 2019

Abdul Samad Sakijan

Malaysia

Gao-Jun Teng

China

Masatoshi Okazaki

Japan
+ 2018

Robert Allen

Australia

Nara Vaeusorn

Thailand
+ 2016

Ke Xu

China

Kyu-Bo Sung

Republic of Korea

Osamu Matsui

Japan
+ 2014

Jae Hyung Park

Republic of Korea

Sanjiv Sharma

India
+ 2012

Hideo Uchida

Japan

Li, Lin-sun

China

Ryusaku Yamada

Japan

Thomson, Kenneth

Australia
+ 2010

Han, Man Chung

Republic of Korea

Hiramatsu, Kyoichi

Japan

Tan, Lenny

Singapore

Hideo Uchida

Nara Medical University, Japan
  • 1961 Graduated Nara Medical University
  • 1965Assistant of Radiology, Osaka University School of Medicine
  • 1972Assistant Professor of Radiology, Osaka University School of Medicine
  • 1979-2001 Professor of Radiology, Nara Medical University
  • 2001 Present Emeritus Professor, Nara Medical University and Chairman of IVR Center in Daiyukai General Hospital.

President, The 3rd International Symposium of Interventional Radiology and New Vascular Imaging (1990, Nara, Japan)

Li, Lin-sun

Nanjing Medical University Hospital, China
  • 1957-1962 Nanjing Medical University, MD
  • 1962 - 1967Resident in Surgery, Nanjing Medical University Hospital
  • 1962 - 1974Attending Thoracic surgeon, Nanjing Medical University Hospital
  • 1974 - 1986 Attending Radiologist, associate Professor, Radiologist, Nanjing Medical University Hospital
  • 1986 - 1987 Fellow, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia
  • 1987 - Present Professor of Radiology, Nanjing Medical University Hospital Position of Medical Association
  • 1990 Founder member of The first Chinese society of Interventional Radiology
  • 1994 - 1997 Vice-Chairman of Chinese society of Interventional Radiology
  • 1997 Presdien Adviser of Chinese society of Interventional Radiology

Ryusaku Yamada

Osaka City University School of Medicine, Japan
  • 1962 Tottori University School of Medicine graduation
  • 1967 Osaka City University Postgraduate School graduation
  • 1974 Osaka City University Hospital: lecturer
  • 1980 Osaka City University School of Medicine: Associate Professor
  • 1981 Wakayama Prefectural Medical College: Professor
  • 1995 Japanese Radiological Society, Honorary Member
  • 1995 Osaka City University School of Medicine: Professor

President, The 4th International Symposium of Interventional Radiology and New Vascular Imaging (1994, Kyoto, Japan)

Thomson, Kenneth

The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

Prof. Kenneth Thomson has been a pioneering Interventional Radiologist in Australia and New Zealand. He was born in New Zealand but has spent his Radiology career based in Melbourne, Australia. He has expertise in cardiovascular and interventional radiology and is a foundation member of the Society of Minimally Invasive Therapy and the Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia. He has published and lectured widely on aspects of interventional radiology and his research interests are vascular stents, molecular imaging, endografts and therapeutic embolic agents. He has been President of the Asian & Oceanian Society of Radiology. President, The 3rd Asia-Pacific Congress of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (1997, Melbourne, Australia)

Han, Man Chung

Republic of Korea

Dr. Han Man Chung, Professor Emeritus of SNU’s College of Medicine and former head of Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital, is a respected doctor who has made global-scale advancements in angiography and interventional radiology. He is also famous as a doctor who overcame cancer. Dr Han introduced cardiovascular angiography using the Seldinger technique in Korea in 1971 which subsequently was put into use nationwide. Dr. Han also introduced the concept of IR in the Korean Journal of Radiology under the name of Active Radiology in 1978, presenting new procedures that were in application then, such as biliary stone removal, biliary drainage, GI bleeding control with epinephrine infusion, and hepatic artery embolization.

The first congress (APCCVIR) was held in Seoul, Korea, in 1993. Dr. Han Man Chung chaired the inaugural congress which brought together participants from 22 countries (mostly from the Asia-Pacific region) and greatly contributed to the advancement of IR in the area. Since then the congress has been hosted by a different country in the Asia-Pacific region biannually.

Dr Han had also co-authored a book entitled Interventional Radiology which was published in 1998.

Hiramatsu, Kyoichi

Japan
  • 1959 Graduated Kanazawa Univ. School of Medicine
  • 1967 Fellow in Radiology, Harvard Medical School (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital)
  • 1971 Assistant Professor of Radiology, Keio Univ. School of Medicine
  • 1976 Associate Professor of Radiology, Keio Univ. School of Medicine
  • 1991 - 2000 Professor of Radiology, Keio Univ. School of Medicine
  • 2000 Present Visiting Professor, Keio Univ. School of Medicine

Tan, Lenny

Singapore

Professor Lenny Tan is currently Professor of Radiology at the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, National University Singapore (NUS) as well as the Emeritus Consultant at Department of Diagnostic Imaging, National University Hospital (NUH). He is also Director, Development & Outreach Unit, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Acting Director/Senior Clinical Advisor, Clinical Imaging Research Centre (CIRC) and Clinical Director at National Healthcare Group Diagnostics. His previous appointments included being Dean, Faculty of Medicine, NUS; Chairman, Medical Board, NUH; Chairman, Specialist Training Committee (Radiology), Director, Graduate School of Medical Studies, NUS; Head, Dept of Diagnostic Radiology, NUS; Head, Dept of Diagnostic Radiology, Singapore General Hospital and Director, School of Radiography.

Prof Tan is widely recognized as the Father of Interventional Radiology (IR) in Singapore. He has made immense contribution to the field of IR not just in Singapore but also internationally. He was the founding President of Asia Pacific Society of Cardio Vascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR) in 1990 and became its President again in 2000. He was also the past President of International Society of Radiology (ISR) from 1994-1998 and Asian Oceanic Society of Radiology (AOSR) from 2004-2006. Prof Tan has organized several large scale radiological conferences including WCIO (2008), AOCR (2004, 2001), APCCVIR (2000), ICR (1994) and delivered numerous lectures on IR at innumerable national and international conferences.

Prof Tan’s awards include the Public Administration Medal – Silver awarded by the President of Singapore (National Day Award, 1982), the Beclere Medal, International Society of Radiology (2000) and the National Healthcare Group Lifetime Achievement Award (2006).

Andrew Holden

Australasia

Associate Professor Andrew Holden, MBChB, FRANZCR, EBIR, ONZM is Director of Northern Interventional Radiology Service, Auckland, New Zealand. A/Prof Holden is a member in good standing of IRSA and national representative of both APSCVIR and ESGAR. He is a past examiner for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR). A/Prof Holden completed his radiology training at Auckland Hospital (1993) before undertaking fellowships in interventional radiology and body imaging at Royal Perth Hospital (1994). He also received fellowship training in liver transplantation at King’s Hospital, London.

A/Prof Holden's contribution to IR within the Asia Pacific region and world wide has been extensive. A/Prof Holden is a regularly invited speaker at numerous international conferences, on many instances as the plenary speaker. His contribution to education in IR across the globe is wide. Over many years, A/Prof Holden has visited numerous Interventional Radiology Departments in the Asia-Pacific region providing proctoring for advanced procedures. He has also hosted Asia-Pacific colleagues for advanced training at Auckland City Hospital. In addition A/Prof Holden has widely contributed to scientific research in IR having published over 100 papers as well as been involved with over 80 commercial trials, many of which were first in human studies. Many of these trials have been pivotal in their areas. In addition he has has received numerous distinguished awards from SIR, CIRSE, APSCVIR and IRSA. A/Prof Holden was the convenor of the APSCVIR 2018 Scientific Meeting in Auckland and has presented at numerous APSCVIR conferences. He served as President of APSCVIR from 2018-2020 and sits on the EC as the immediate Past President.

With a strong interest in Research, A/Prof Holden has authored or co-authored over 100 peer reviewed journal publications and contributed to five book chapters. Since 1992, A/Prof Holden has presented at many of local and international scientific meetings. He is the lead radiologist for the liver transplant and endoluminal stent graft programmes at Auckland Hospital. His clinical and research interests include advanced interventional techniques for endoluminal, renal and oncology applications as well as new CT and MR techniques. With vascular surgical colleague Andrew Hill, A/Prof Holden formed the Vascular Intervention Research Unit at Auckland Hospital, and has been involved in well over 100 first- and early human trials, mainly but not exclusively involving vascular and renal dialysis patients. A/Prof Holden is a member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) Interventional Radiology Committee, a member of IRSA (Interventional Society of Australasia) and national representative of both APSCVIR and ESGAR. He is a past examiner for RANZCR. In 2018, A/Prof Holden was recognised for his contribution to vascular and endovascular intervention by being awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) medal.

Kimihiko Kichikawa

Japan

Prof. Kimihiko Kichikawa graduated from Nara Medical University in 1980. After the completion of postgraduate training of General Radiology, he became a staff of Department of Radiology in Nara Medical University in 1982. From 1991 to1993, he visited Dotter Intervention Institute, Portland, USA as Research Fellow. He became Associate Professor of Department of Radiology, Nara Medical University in 2000 and Chief Professor in 2001. He also doubled as Director of IVR center and Central Radiology Division in Nara Medical University. Then, he became a President of Nara Medical University Hospital in 2020.  He had been appointed President of the Japanese Society of Interventional Radiology (JSIR) from 2017 to 2020. He was an Executive Committee of Asia-Pacific Society of Cardio-Vascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR). He is Regional Editor of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (CVIR). He is also Chairman of Japanese Society of Aortic Stent Graft, Auditor of Japanese College of Angiology, Director of Japanese Society for Endovascular Intervention and Director of Japanese Society of Phlebology. He is the author of over 370 original English papers in the field of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology.

Prof. Kiminiko Kichikawa participated APSCVIR annual scientific meeting every year and also many other international and domestic conferences held in Asian countries. He gave many lectures and had roles of Chairman and Moderator of the sessions there. His main scientific and educational lecture topics were Vascular Interventional Radiology including EVT, Aortic stent graft, Embolization, Image Diagnosis of Vascular Diseases, Neuroradiology and Neuro-intervention. He has contributed significantly to develop the scientific level of his academic fields in the Asia-Pacific region. During the presidency of Prof. Kichikawa, JSIR started SIRAP (Seminar in Interventional Radiology in Asia-Pacific). Many young interventional radiologists from various Asian countries were invited and participated SIRAP every year. Intervetional Radiology in Asia-Pacific region has grown under the guidance and thoughtful direction of prof. Kichikawa.

Prof. Kichiawa's contributed on development of interventional radiology in the world. He has been involved in publishing over a hundred papers in his career to describe new techniques and new devices of Vascular Intervention, including EVT, Aortic stent graft. He also organized and joined multiple international clinical trials. He has also contributed on education for interventional radiology in the world. He has been invited for lecturers from many scientific meetings held in Europe and USA, as well. Many young interventional radiologist from Thailand, Korea, China, Spain, Germany and Argentina visited Nara Medical University to learn from him. He worked as the president of JSIR to make a good cooperation with other associations of interventional radiology in the world including APSCVIR, CIRSE and SIR. He organized the 43th annual meeting of JSIR in 2014, the 35th annual meeting of Japanese Society of Phlebology in 2015, the 57th annual meeting of Japanese College of Angiology in 2016 and the 23th annual meeting of Japanese Society of Endovascular Intervention in 2017 in Nara. He invited many international speakers from APSCVIR, CIRSE and SIR in these meetings. Also, many interventional radiologists from various countries visited Nara to participate the meetings.

Tan Bien Soo

Singapore

Prof Tan Bien Soo is Senior Consultant at the Department of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Singapore General Hospital. He was the Academic Chair of the Radiological Sciences Academic Clinical Programme at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Centre from 2014 to 2020, the Chair of the Division of Radiological Sciences at Singapore General Hospital from 2017 to 2020, and the Head of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Singapore General Hospital from 2002 to 2010. Dr Tan is Clinical Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Department of Medical Science, Development and Management University of Medicine 1, Yangon, Myanmar. Dr Tan has served in various capacities professionally. He was the Chairman of the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Advisory Committee, the national committee that oversees postgraduate training in Diagnostic Radiology in Singapore from 2010 to 2018. He is a past President of the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, and a past President of the College of Radiologists, Singapore. He is also in the team of editors of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (CVIR) and was an assistant editor of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Dr Tan is a fellow of several professional organizations, including the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), and the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE). He is active in research and is the Principal Investigator of an NMRC funded prospective randomized clinical trial looking into the efficacy of drug eluting balloon angioplasty in critical limb ischemia. In 2013, he was conferred the prestigious CIRSE Distinguished Fellow Award for his contributions and achievements in the field of Interventional Radiology, being only the 3rd Asian radiologist to receive this honour. He was also one of the 2017 recipients of the SingHealth Distinguished Senior Clinician Award, which annually recognises top performing senior clinicians who are leading experts in their fields and are role models to fellow colleagues. In 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Lancet Commission on Diagnostics, a global health research project working on how pathology, laboratory medicine and radiology are essential to Universal Health Coverage. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, Prof Tan was invited to be a member of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) COVID-19 Task Force. He is the only international member of this task force, which has been instrumental in developing guidelines and policies and disseminating them through educational initiatives.

Jae Kyu Kim

South Korea

Emeritus Professor Jae-Kyu Kim, MD, is board-certified interventional radiologist who currently works in the Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Republic of Korea. Upon completion of his residency (1983-1987) in the Department of Radiology at Chonnam National University Hospital, Dr. Jae-Kyu Kim became a professor at the same hospital. He underwent a research fellowship program at the University of Minnesota in 1992 and also visited the Louisiana State University Medical School as a Visiting Research Professor in 1997. Before his retirement from Chonnam National University Hospital in 2020, Dr. Jae-Kyu Kim was the Vice Dean (2006-2008) of Chonnam National University Medical School and Chair of the Radiology Department (2005-2012). He was the President of the Korean Society of Interventional Radiology (KSIR) in 2009-2011 and the President of the Image-Guided Endovascular Therapy (IGET) in 2011-2013.

Dr. Jae-Kyu Kim is a well-known figure in the field of endovascular intervention domestically and in the Asia-Pacific region. He has attended APSCVIR numerous times as an invited speaker. Dr. Kim’s contribution to the advancement of IR in the Asia Pacific region goes beyond participation in APSCVIR Scientific Meetings. Dr. Kim traveled to many regions in the area, including China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbeksitan, and Taiwan, to take on the role as a live demonstrator and to give talks on endovascular intervention. Dr. Kim has been committed to the education of IRs both domestic and abroad. Dr. Kim founded the Grand Interventional Radiology Symposium in 2007, a large-scale, live symposium that has now been renamed to IGET. He also founded the GETC (GwangJu Endovascular Training Course) based at Chonnam National University Hospital, which aimed to train young IRs from both domestic and international fields (participating countries included Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, etc).

Dr. Jae-Kyu Kim has published over 200 articles in domestic and international journals. Dr. Kim dedicated his career to refining and developing techniques for endovascular procedures (especially in aortic intervention and peripheral vascular intervention), and to improving the standard of practice for these fields in Korea. Dr. Kim has been, and will always be, extremely keen on sharing his experience and educating young audiences from the Asia-Pacific region who seek to start their own clinical practice in endovascular procedures.

Simon Chun Ho Yu

Hong Kong

Professor Yu is currently the Professor of Imaging and Interventional Radiology as well as the Director of Vascular and Interventional Radiology Foundation (VIRF) Clinical Science Center of CUHK. He is a clinical and applied science researcher with a focus on the advancement of techniques and technology of VIR, an inventor, a teacher, and an educator. He specializes in Interventional Oncology and Interventional Neuroradiology, but his interest also covers aortic and vascular diseases, gynecological diseases and urological diseases. His great passion in research and education in VIR has led to his founding of VIRF in 2004 as President, founding VIRF Clinical Science Center CUHK in 2007 as Director, and founding Asia Pacific Association of Image-guided Therapy in Oncology in 2014 as President. He also co-founded multiple societies related to VIR in Hong Kong. As a researcher, he has attracted 16 million USD research fund from the government, industry, and donors.

Professor Yu has been serving APSCVIR as an invited speaker for multiple times since 2004. He has also been active in delivering invited lectures in other Societies (including AAFITN, ACTA, CCIO, CSIR, JSIR, SGCR, SIO, WCIO, WFITN, WIRES, etc.) and hospitals of the Asia-Pacific Region, in countries including Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States of America, totally 130 lectures have been delivered. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a disease endemic in the AP region, has been one of the key research areas of Prof. Yu. He has studied comprehensively on the treatment “Transarterial Ethanol Ablation” (TEA) and proved that TEA is a superior to convention chemoembolization (TACE) in terms of complete response and disease control rate, TEA provides superior survival benefit over TACE for huge tumors, it offers a competitive alternative to thermal ablation and surgical resection for small tumors. He has invented a novel treatment “Ablative Chemoembolization” (ACE) which signifies further breakthrough in technology for local control of intrahepatic HCC, achieving unprecedented efficacy in complete tumor response. Prof. Yu has been a pioneer in the AP region in Interventional Neuroradiology, he introduced intracranial stent for atherosclerotic disease, flow diverter for aneurysms, and mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke to the AP region years ahead, studied them deeply and extensively, and committed to sharing his experiences, knowledge, and skills in these areas through lectures, tutorials, and hands-on workshops in the AP region. Prof. Yu has developed a novel protocol of High-Intensity-Focused-Ultrasound (HIFU) for the treatment of uterine fibroid, which allows increased treatment efficiency without anesthesia, and proved to be superior to standard HIFU or UAE in clinical outcome and tumor shrinkage. Prof. Yu has confirmed the effectiveness and safety of Prostate Artery Embolization (PAE) in relieving complete bladder outflow obstruction due to BPH, thereby confirmed its role as an effective non-surgical treatment for the condition. He invented a technique for efficient prevention of inadvertent embolization of non-target organs due to anastomotic pathways during PAE, thereby increases the safety and efficiency of the procedure. His research in post-PAE clinical outcome has led to the development of a Thickness-to-Height Ratio of Intravesical Prostate Protrusion as a novel and unique predictor for post-PAE clinical outcome and therefore valuable as a patient-selection criteria for PAE

Professor Yu has been the only full-time clinical radiologist and the only academics completely dedicated to the VIR specialty in Hong Kong. He has contributed a number of ground-breaking research in interventional neuroradiology, interventional oncology, and intervention for hepatobiliary diseases, gynecological diseases and urological diseases. His work has led to 298 peer reviewed publications in journals such as The Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of National Cancer Institute, Neurology, Annals of Neurology, Hepatology, Annals of Surgery, Radiology, and Stroke, etc., as well as 142 scientific paper presentation in scientific conferences including, APSCVIR, RSNA, CIRSE, SIR, JRS, KCR, ECR, APPLE, ASCO, WFITN, AAFITN, and AHA/ASA; it led to a doctorate thesis in VIR, and an Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (First Class Award in Natural Science) from The Ministry of Higher Education of The Peoples ‘Republic of China in 2011.

Prof. Yu is deeply devoted to education in VIR. He is highly interested in sharing his skills and knowledge that he has acquired through his extensive involvement in multiple clinical specialties in his heavy clinical duties in an acute general hospital, and through his clinical research. Apart from the many invited lectures that he always gladly delivers, he has been enthusiastic in organizing education events in VIR for international professionals (totally 34 events), especially those from the AP Region, through the instruments of VIRF (since 2004) and VIRF Clinical Science Center (since 2007) that he has founded. He has organized Intensive Hands- On Practical Training Courses in comprehensive endovascular intervention featuring live and large animal model, didactic lectures, and interactive tutorials, in collaboration with the University of Michigan; International Workshops featuring didactic lectures and clinical case demonstration, on the topics Uterine Artery Embolization, Prostate Artery Embolization, and Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair; and International Workshops in Cerebrovascular Intervention featuring didactic lectures and hands-on practical on mechanical thrombectomy of acute ischemic stroke and coil embolization of aneurysms in live and large animal models. In all these events, he has played a key role in conducting the didactic lectures, performing live case demonstrations, and proctoring hands-on practical in animal models. In 2018, Prof. Yu organized two international scientific conferences, in Embolization (GEST Asia 2018), and Interventional Oncology (APAITO 2018) respectively as Course Director and President. Throughout the years, about 3800 VIR professional have participated in these events organized by him, including 2373 doctors, from countries including China, Denmark, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. For the local VIR community, Prof. Yu has organized the much welcome and well attended Certificate (1-year) and Diploma (2-year) Programs in VIR since 2013, which comprise of a comprehensive curriculum covering all VIR aspects with both clinical and procedure perspectives. He has organized workshops with lectures and simulator hands-on practical as a Commission training for the Hong Kong Hospital Authority on Endovascular Neuro-intervention. He has introduced VIR into the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum of CUHK. He became a trainer of VIR for his department and for the The Hong Kong College of Radiologists since 1998 and has trained numerous VIR specialists, including local and overseas visitors and observers who have always been welcome by him to his VIR suite in the Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH).

Regarding clinical service, Prof. Yu has committed to a 24-hours 7-days weekly emergency service of VIR since 1994, including cerebrovascular intervention since 1999, and the provision of a comprehensive VIR service for all clinical specialties in PWH, which is an acute general hospital of 1500 beds serving 1.3 million population in the region, and one of the few referral centers for Oncology and Cardiothoracic Surgery in Hong Kong.

History of APSCVIR

In the year 1991, there was a course of Interventional Radiology in Singapore, where Professors Lenny Tan (Singapore), Kyoichi Hiramatsu (Japan), Man Chung Han (Korea), Jae Hyung Park (Korea), and Ken Thomson (Australia) participated. They gained the sympathy of founding a scientific society for cardiovascular and interventional radiology during the meeting. They founded the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology as a world-wide network of interventional radiologists, just as others have with SCVIR of USA and with CIRSE of Europe.

The Officers for 1991 to 1992 were as follows: President Lenny KA Tan, President-Elect Man Chung Han, Secretary Ken Thomson, Treasurer Kyoichi Hiramatsu, Membership Committee Hideo Uchida (Chairman, Japan), Nara Vaeusorn (Thailand), Wong Siew Hua (Hong Kong), Program Committee Jae Hyung Park (Chairman), Hsien Jar Chiang (Taiwan), Abdul Samad Sakijan (Malaysia).

After reaching a consensus to form the Asia Pacific Society, they decided for Korea to hold the first meeting of Asia Pacific Congress of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APCCVIR). Professor Man Chung Han accepted the proposal to become the Organising Chairman on condition that the 2nd biennial meeting should be followed in Japan in 1995 and the 3rd meeting in Australia in 1997.

Since 1993, when the 1st APCCVIR was successfully held in the Hilton Hotel, Seoul, Korea, the biennial meetings of APCCVIR were satisfactorily followed in other Asia Pacific territories. The Presidents and Officers of the Society, and the Organising Committee and venues of the successive meetings are summarised in Table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1. The list of Presidents, Officers and members of Executive Committee of Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR)

Yasuaki Arai

Japan

Dr. Yasuaki Arai graduated from Jikei University School of Medicine in 1979 and completed Internal Medicine residency at the 2nd Tokyo National Hospital, and Radiology Residency at Aichi Cancer Center. He became Chair, Department of Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, Aichi Cancer Center in 1997, Chair, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, National Cancer Center Hospital in 2004, and Chair, Interventional Radiology Center, National Cancer Center Hospital in 2015. He was appointed for the Director, National Cancer Center Hospital from 2012 to 2016, and is now the Executive Advisor to the President, National Cancer Center. His main clinical and research contributions have been in the interventional radiology, especially for interventional oncology. He is the author of over 100 original English papers in the field of interventional oncology. He is an associate editor of Journal of Interventional Radiology, Asia-Pacific journal of Clinical Oncology, and emeritus editor of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology. He has invented a lot of valuable techniques, devices and systems for interventional radiology, those include implantable port system, hepatic arterial infusion catheter system, Angio-CT (interventional CT) system, technique and devices of trans-jugular trans-hepatic peritoneo-venous shunt, Tip-deflecting microcatheter (Ninja). He had been a long-time board member of Japanese Society of Interventional Radiology (JSIR) and was the president from 2014 to 2017. He was also an annual meeting president of JSIR 2015.

He founded Japan Interventional Radiology in Oncology Study Group (JIVROSG), and was the Chair. He was a course director of GEST (Global Embolization Symposium and Technology) for long years, and he was also the president of GEST Asia 2016 & 2018. He was an Executive Committee of Asia-Pacific Society of Cardio-Vascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR). In addition, he has been doing important governmental works as a member of Pharmaceutical Affairs and Food Sanitation Council (PAFSC), MHL, Chair of Committee on Medical Device and In-vitro Diagnostic, Pharmaceutical Affairs Council, PAFSC, and Chair of Committee on Safety of Medical Device and Regenerative Device, Pharmaceutical Council, PAFSC.

Young-Soo Do

South Korea

Dr. Young Soo Do is renown internationally for his scientific contribution to interventional treatment of AVMs. Among his biggest achievements is the development of the Cho-Do classification of AVMs which serves as a basis for strategic approach to the treatment of different types of vascular malformations. Dr. Do has always been keen on sharing his knowledge and experience with his peers and those who wished to learn from him.

Domestic and foreign doctors from various countries of Asia including Philippines, Vietnam, China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia etc. have continuously visited Dr. Do’s AVM clinic at Samsung Medical Center. Dr. Do has also travelled to numerous Asian countries for live demonstrations with the aim of helping those respective countries to set up their clinical service for AVMs. Before and during his Presidency of KSIR (2015-2016), Dr. Do has constantly voiced the importance of international communication and education in the Asia-Pacific region. KSIR members have had the pleasure of witnessing the growth of IICIR (annual educational program with the aim of education young interventional radiologists from the Asia-Pacific region) under the leadership of Dr. Do.

Dr. Do has devoted his career to improving IR care in South Korea while serving as IR section chief and chief of radiology (2011-2015) at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul and as Secretary General (2007-2008), Vice President (2013-2014), and President (2015-2016) of KSIR. During this period, Dr. Do has played a pivotal role in reaching out to international societies and it is our society’s belief that his work represents, not only the Korean IR society, but the Asia-Pacific IR society as a whole. Based on his past contributions to the regional society, not to mention more contributions to be made in the future, Dr. Do is truly a role model for many interventional radiologists in the Asia-Pacific region.

Shozo Hirota

Japan

Dr Hirota is a pioneer who have rendered extraordinary service such as teaching, basic research, clinical investigations, and activities in academic organizations. He has made an outstanding achievements and exceptional contribution to interventional radiology for JSIR as well as APSCVIR. He has been working at Hyogo Medical College Hospital until his retirement. He is still active and contributing to the Societies and disciplines. Dr Shozo Hirota is the Emeritus professor of Hyogo College of Medicine and is also the Director of IR center at Konan Medical Center, Kobe, Japan. Dr Hirota had served in various roles including the Editorial Committee of Japanese Journal of Interventional Radiology, Executive Council Member of Japanese Society of Interventional Radiology, Chairman of the Japanese board certification of Interventional Radiology and Vice President of Japanese Society of Interventional Radiology. He has contributed as an Asian Editor of Cardiovascuar and Interventional Radiology from 2009 to 2013.

Contribution to research include interventional treatments regarding hepatic malignancies, pulmonary AVMs and gastric varices. Dr Hirota dedicated his research on balloon occluded reterobrade transvenous obliteration for gastric varices and ectopic shunts. His classification of gastric varces on retrograde venography has been called as Hirota’s grading score.

Education contribution include tutoring more than 40 interventional radiologists where fifteen disciples had gained Doctor of Philosophy under his guidance . Dr Hirota had given talks to members in symposium or lectures of domestic and international congress, including the annual scientific meeting of APSCVIR (formerly named APCCVIR), SCVIR and CIRSE. Dr Hirota had also organized the 10th APCCVIR successfully in Kobe, 2012 as chairman of the organising committee of APSCVIR and was the President of APSCVIR from 2012 to 2013.

Alex Tang

Malaysia

Dr Tang has been a tremendous and long term supporter of APSCVIR as well as an outstanding leader and educator in his home country of Malaysia. Dr Tang was President of APSCVIR from 2008 to 2010 and hosted the Annual Scientific Meeting (then known as APCCVIR) in his home country of Malaysia in 2008. Dr Tang has been an active member of the APSCVIR Executive Committee since 2010. Since 2015, Dr Tang has been on the Board of Directors for APAITO (Asian Pacific Association of Image Guided Therapy in Oncology). Following his Radiology training in Malaysia, Dr Tang completed an Interventional Radiology fellowship at the Hammersmith in London and also completed further neurointerventional training at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford.

Dr Tang has been an inspiration in starting and supporting many educational courses in his country and many others in the region, with particular emphasis on neurointervention and interventional oncology.

Dr Tang has been an active IR, both in clinical practice and academic activities. He was the Past President of the APSCVIR 2008-2010, Vice President, Malaysian Society of Interventional Radiologists 20012-2016, the founding member of the AP Society of Interventional Oncology and a board of director in the Asian Pacific Association in Imaged Guided Therapy in Oncology (APAITO).

He is currently holding the position of senior consultant vascular & interventional radiologist at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur. His major interests are endovascular revascularisation, stroke salvages, interventional oncology and management of vascular malformations.

Abdul Samad Sakijan

Malaysia

Dr. Sakijan was the professor of radiology with the National University of Malaysia and the pioneer in interventional radiology in Malaysia. He was the brain behind the establishment and setting up of IR services in the General Hospital, the then national training center in diagnostic and interventional radiology in mid 1980’s to late 1990’s. He had put in tremendous efforts and time, in teaching the young radiologists, motivating and laid a strong foundation of IR in Malaysia. He set the mile stones and precedents in the superiority of the technology in IR and became the yardstick in the line of precision medicine.

Dr Sakijan was the first in Malaysia to start various IR procedures, including image guided percutaneous aspiration and biopsies, PTBD including plastic and metallic stenting, TACE, TIPSS, embolisation of arterial bleeding in the lungs, GIT and GUT, nephrostomy and urinary tract stenting, IVC filter placement, etc. His innovative skills and technical know how is exemplary.

He is a highly respected mentor and professor in radiology. His efforts, good works and reputation has gained trust and confident of the other clinical specialties in the local institutions; in entrusting the IR as a subspecialty and seeking IR treatments for their patients in time of urgent needs.

Despite his retirement from the academic roles, Dr. Sakijan remains active in teaching and performing IR procedures in his resident hospital, as well as supporting IR services in the National Heart Institute. Dr. Sakijan deserves the recognition of his hard works and contributions in IR, both the Malaysia and in the regions.

Dr Sakijan was among the founding members of APSCVIR in 1991. Despite his passive role, his enthusiasm and immense efforts in promoting IR in Malaysia is undeniable.

Gao-Jun Teng

China

Dr. Gao-Jun Teng is a professor of Radiology and the Chair of the Center of Interventional Radiology and Vascular Surgery at Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University in Nanjing, China. He served as the President of Zhongda Hospital since 2014.

Dr. Teng finished his medical education in 1982, resident training in radiology in 1986, and interventional radiology fellowship in 1987. He was a research fellow of interventional radiology in Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center from 1995 to 1998.

Dr. Teng has been focusing on both clinical practice and basic research in interventional radiology since 1987. He has extensive experiences in various interventional procedures such as interventional oncology, spinal interventions, vascular interventions, etc. He has many innovations of new devices and techniques in his interventional practice, including a series of irradiation stents for malignant obstructions with esophageal cancer, liver cancer, biliary carcinoma, and lung cancer; a new spiral automated lumbar nucleotomy that has been used to treat thousands of patients in China; and a novel endovascular ablation system for cancer pain, diabetic foot, etc.

Dr. Teng has published more than 300 papers, 10 books or chapters, and many patents. As one of early IRs in China, he has run more than 80 workshops and trained over 6,000 IRs in China in the past 20 years. As a mentor of Ph.D. and M.S, Dr. Teng has taught more than 100 Ph.D. and M.S. graduates. He served many Chinese IR journals as IR Editors, the Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Journal of Interventional Radiology being an example, and also served many international IR journals, such as the Associate Editor of CVIR, Associate Editor of JVIR, etc.

He was the chair of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University in Nanjing, China during 1998 to 2016, and was the Dean of Medical School, Southeast University from 2009 to 2014. Dr. Teng has been the President of Zhongda Hospital since 2014. During his administrative terms, he merged vascular surgery into his IR department, with over 100 dedicated IR inpatient service beds, turning it into one of the new models of clinical specialty practice.

Dr. Teng is the current President of the Chinese College of Interventionalists (CCI) since 2017, the Past President of the Chinese Society of Interventional Radiology (CSIR), and the Immediate Past President of Asia-Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR) for the term of 2018-2020. He has been a fellow of SIR since 2008 and a fellow of CIRSE since 2013. He has been awarded many national and international prizes including 3 times of National Scientific and Technology Award, Distinguished Fellow of CIRSE (2015), and Gold Medal of SIR (2017).

Masatoshi Okazaki

Japan

Dr. Okazaki is one of the founders of Japan Society of Interventional Radiology (JSIR). He has given great effort in developing clinical and research activities in IR in Japan as 3rd President of JSIR between year 2002 and 2008. Dr. Okazaki has provided remarkably dedicated and effective service to the Japan Interventional radiology year after year. He has been scientific meeting chairperson for the 30th Japanese Society of Angiography and Interventional Radiology as well as the 45th Annual Meeting of Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan.

Currently he is the Emeritus Professor in Fukuoka University.

Robert Allen

Australia

Dr Robert Allen has been one of the founding fathers of Interventional Radiology in Australia and New Zealand. He has been a major contributor to the development of the discipline locally and to the training of a generation of Australian and New Zealand interventional radiologists. The Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia (IRSA) is proud to nominate Robert Allen for the APSCVIR Gold Medal in 2018.

Dr Allen graduated in medicine from the University of Sydney. He trained in radiology at the Austen Hospital in the Australian state of Victoria. Upon graduation in 1974 he spent a year driving through Asia with his wife, Marilyn and three-year old daughter, Deirdre. They drove from Singapore through Malaysia, Thailand, India (where he worked for two months), Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran and finally to London. He then worked for 2 years in the Radiology department in the Kings Hospital London.

Dr Allen returned to Australia in 1978 as the director of Radiology in the Wooden Valley Hospital in Canberra. He has remained in Canberra for the 40 years since and forged a career in IR as both an innovative proceduralist and an inventor. In those early days of IR, he not only designed his own procedures but custom built the prostheses which he would use. He has been inventing devices his entire life. In his adolescence, he had built a pistol, a rifle and an electronic toothbrush which functioned well for 40 years. He also experimented with blasting powder and had a near fatal accident at the age of 14 when an experiment went wrong and he lost his left hand in the explosion.

Despite having one hand, he has built a stellar career as an Interventional Radiologist. He has designed many interventional radiology procedures and devices, including the Allen aspiration embolectomy system, pump assisted biliary drainage, the “arachnis pentapredis” (a self-made device to allow reconstruction of benign biliary injuries and strictures) and “fast urokinase” a technique to accelerate the thrombolytic action of urokinase. There are too many other inventions to list. He is more an inventor than a publisher, a common trait of inventive genius.

Dr Allen has spent his life teaching and has trained many radiologists in his Interventional Radiology techniques. His “disciples” extend the length and breadth of Australia and New Zealand and remain indebted to their teacher. Robert was awarded the Interventional Radiology of Australasia (IRSA) Gold Medal in 2013. He remains in active Interventional radiology practice in Canberra.

Nara Vaeusorn

Thailand

rofessor Emeritus Nara Vaeusorn has obtained his medical degree from Mahidol university, Bangkok, Thailand and had completed a diploma of American Board of Radiology in Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine from The Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Maryland, USA, after which he was certified in Radiologic Pathology by the Armed Forces Institute-Pathology (AFIP), Washington D.C. and Thai Board in Diagnostic Radiology from the Royal College of Radiologists of Thailand. Dr. Vaeusorn had attended fellowship in Vascular Radiology and Interventional Radiology twice, at Lund, Uppsala and Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden and Utrecht University Hospital, Netherlands. He had also received a certificate in Medical Care and Public Health from the International Summer School, University of Osla, Norway.

With his main interests including interventional radiology, vascular radiology and diagnostic imaging, for over fifty years Dr. Vaeusorn has devoted to education and has been teaching at Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. Dr. Vaeusorn had received several distinguished awards for invention of new medical equipment, outstanding medical instructor and publications from Mahidol University, Distinguished award from the Medical Association of Thailand as an outstanding doctor of the year 1994 and Distinguished award as “The Doctor of the Year 1995 – the Fourth Asian Achievement Award” from the Asian Business Forum, Singapore.

Ke Xu

China

Dr. Ke Xu started to dabble in the treatment and clinical study of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) in 1988, under the guidance of Professor Kaneko Masao and Professor Takahashi Genyichilao in Hamamachi Medical University.

He has first proposed a “bidirectional location and the remote identification of IVC for open technology” and completed China’s first segmental occlusion of Budd-Chiari syndrome treated by intervention, and the first TIPS for gastrointestinal bleeding caused by liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension. So far, he has published more than 300 papers cited for more than 2,500 times, and has gained 6 national patents, 1 second and 1 third prize of national scientific and technological progress, and trained 106 doctoral and postdoctoral students.

Kyu-Bo Sung

Republic of Korea

Dr. Kyu-Bo Sung joined Asan Medical Center (AMC) in 1990, where he started developing and introducing numerous interventional radiology procedures. During his 26 years of career at AMC, he has trained 43 Radiologists into Interventional Radiologists, the number of which is about 20% of Korean Society of Interventional Radiology (KSIR) members.

Dr. Sung’s has made great contributions in treating the complications after Living Donor Liver Transplatation, and has published 150 articles in Science-Index Journal. In 2011, he gave the ‘Man Chung Han lecture’ at the annual meeting of Korean Society of Interventional Radiology. In 2013, Dr. Sung received the 1st Daewoong Medical Award, Clinical Liver Transplantation Research.

Osamu Matsui

Japan

Dr. Osamu Matsui started his carrier as a specialist in angiography in 1978. He introduced CT during arterial portography (CTAP) in late 1970s and subsegemntal Lipiodol TACE with microcatheter system in late 1980s.

His main clinical and research contributions have been in the Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Radiology, especially for liver cancer. He is the author of more than 450 original English papers which appeared in Medline. He is now an associate editor of gastrointestinal section of “Radiology”, the official journal of RSNA. He was selected one of the distinguished scientists of Japan in 2009 by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Jae Hyung Park

Republic of Korea

Dr Park obtained his MD degree in 1972 and PhD in 1981 from Seoul National University. He completed his Radiology Residency in 1977 at the Seoul National University Hospital. He spent a year as Research Fellow with the Department of Radiology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA in 1983/84. Dr Park was Professor of Radiology at the Seoul National University Medical College from 1980 too 2012 after which he retired and joined Gachon University Gil Medical Center.

Dr Park has been the past President of several societies includig the Korean Society of Molecular Imaging (2003-2004), Biomedical Engineering Society for Circulatory Disorder (2005-2007), Asian Society of Cardiac Imaging (2007) and Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (2010-2012). He was involved in the organisation of several large scale conferences including te 5th Asia-Oceania Congress of Radiology in 1987, the 1st Asian- Pacific Congress of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology in 1993 an again 2010 and the 50th Anniversary Scientific Meeting of Korean Radiological Society in 1995.

Dr Park has a distinguished academic career. He has published more than 210 papers in peer reviewed international English journals and is the Editor/Co-Editor of 2 books – ‘Interventional Radiology’ by Han & Park (1999) and ‘Cardiovascular Imaging’ by Park JH (2008). He was the Associate Editor of JVIR from 1996-1999 and sits on the Editorial Board of Journal of Technique in Vascular and Interventional Radiology since 2004.

As a pioneer of Interventional Radiology, Dr Park has rendered extraordinary service in the fields of teaching basic research, clinical investigations and activities in academic organizations. he has made exceptional contributions to Interventional Radiology for both the KSIR as well as the APSCVIR. He established “the International Intensive Course for Interventional Radiology (IICIR)* in 2002 to train young IR doctors in the Asia Pacific region. This annual course has been running continuously in Seoul since its inception and is in its 12th year.

History of APSCVIR

In the year 1991, there was a course of Interventional Radiology in Singapore, where Professors Lenny Tan (Singapore), Kyoichi Hiramatsu (Japan), Man Chung Han (Korea), Jae Hyung Park (Korea), and Ken Thomson (Australia) participated. They gained the sympathy of founding a scientific society for cardiovascular and interventional radiology during the meeting. They founded the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology as a world-wide network of interventional radiologists, just as others have with SCVIR of USA and with CIRSE of Europe.

The Officers for 1991 to 1992 were as follows: President Lenny KA Tan, President-Elect Man Chung Han, Secretary Ken Thomson, Treasurer Kyoichi Hiramatsu, Membership Committee Hideo Uchida (Chairman, Japan), Nara Vaeusorn (Thailand), Wong Siew Hua (Hong Kong), Program Committee Jae Hyung Park (Chairman), Hsien Jar Chiang (Taiwan), Abdul Samad Sakijan (Malaysia).

After reaching a consensus to form the Asia Pacific Society, they decided for Korea to hold the first meeting of Asia Pacific Congress of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APCCVIR). Professor Man Chung Han accepted the proposal to become the Organising Chairman on condition that the 2nd biennial meeting should be followed in Japan in 1995 and the 3rd meeting in Australia in 1997.

Since 1993, when the 1st APCCVIR was successfully held in the Hilton Hotel, Seoul, Korea, the biennial meetings of APCCVIR were satisfactorily followed in other Asia Pacific territories. The Presidents and Officers of the Society, and the Organising Committee and venues of the successive meetings are summarised in Table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1. The list of Presidents, Officers and members of Executive Committee of Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR)

Sanjiv Sharma

India

Dr Sharma graduated from Delhi University (Maulana Azad Medical College) in 1977 and obtained his MD (Radio-diagnosis) degree from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & research in 1982 (recipient of the highest order of merit). He was the recipient of the M.L. WIG Gold Medal for Clinical Research in 1990 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He was awarded the WHO Fellowship in 1996 and spent some time with the Cardiovascular & Interventional Radiology Divisions at the University of California (San Francisco), Brigham & Women Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

Dr Sharma is currently Professor and Head, Dept of Cardiac Radiology at AIIMS. He has been the past President of the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR) from 2004 to 2006 and the Indian Society of Vascular & Interventional Radiology (ISVIR) from 2003 to 2006. He is Chairman of the Research & Education Foundation of the ISVIR since 2009 and is the National Coordinator for the Indian National Registry of Vascular and Interventional Procedures since 1999. He is also the Editor/Associate Editor of CVIR and JVIR journals since 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Dr Sharma has lectured and published widely. He has delivered 342 guest lectures and presentations in various meetings and teaching programs. He has published 228 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international and national journals and 38 book chapters.

Dr Sharma has contributed much to the development of Interventional Radiology in the Asia Pacific Region. He started IR programs in the neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan by training the local manpower both in their home countries and at AIIMS; and by conducting workshops and CME programs in the local hospitals and universities to establish IR procedures locally and create awareness about IR among the local physicians, surgeons and allied specialists.