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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO HEALTH, MEDICAL, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Society of Interventional Radiology Names James B. Spies as President
Local interviews are available by contacting SIR's communications department staff: Ellen Acconcia, SIR manager, website and communications, eacconcia@SIRweb.org, (703) 460-5582, or Maryann Verrillo, SIR director of communications and public relations, mverrillo@SIRweb.org, (703) 460-5572.
SAN DIEGO, March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- James B. Spies,
M.D., MPH, FSIR, chair of the radiology department at MedStar
Georgetown University Hospital and professor of radiology at
Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., assumed
office as the Society of Interventional Radiology's 2014-15 president
during the society's 39th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego.
"Advancing a better understanding of both the limitless potential of
interventional radiology and its positive impact on patient care will
be a main focus during my term as president," said Spies, who will
represent the society's nearly 5,000 doctors, scientists and allied
health professionals dedicated to improving health care through
image-guided minimally invasive treatments. "SIR members are dedicated
to improving outcomes for patients through innovation, constantly
seeking new minimally invasive technologies and treatments to improve
patient care," added Spies, who leads the Georgetown Uterine Fibroid
Embolization Program, one of the largest and most experienced in the
United States.
A leading researcher in the field of uterine fibroid embolization
(UFE) for more than 15 years, Spies has published more than 100
peer-reviewed papers on his research into the technique that
embolizes, or blocks, the blood supply to fibroids (noncancerous
growths that develop in the muscular wall of the uterus). UFE is a
medical advance for women, providing a treatment option that's far
less invasive than hysterectomy or other surgery-with less risk, less
pain and less recovery time.
Spies has been a principal investigator in five funded research
trials, including the FIBROID Registry, a study of 3,000 women, and
developed the UFS-QOL, the only fibroid-specific symptom and quality
of life questionnaire currently available. Most recently, he led a
multicenter study comparing the relative quality of life impact of
myomectomy (surgical removal of the fibroids) and hysterectomy. His
research defines many parameters associated with UFE, including
subsequent ovarian function, long-term outcomes, and other safety and
efficacy issues. He has been invited to present more than 250 lectures
on minimally invasive embolization treatment for uterine fibroids as
well as enlarged prostates, varicoceles (venous abnormalities in the
scrotum that may cause infertility) and postpartum hemorrhage.
Spies attended Georgetown Medical School and completed his residency
in diagnostic radiology at the University of California at San
Francisco and a fellowship in interventional radiology at New York
University. From 1985 to 1989, he served in the Air Force as chief of
interventional radiology at Wilford Hall Medical Center (now Wilford
Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center) in San Antonio. He was in private
practice in interventional radiology until 1997, when he joined the
Georgetown faculty.
Besides Spies, other members of SIR's 2014-15 Executive Council who
took office are listed below.
-- President-elect Alan H. Matsumoto, M.D., FSIR, University of
Virginia Health System, Charlottesville
-- Secretary Charles E. Ray Jr., M.D., Ph.D., FSIR, University of
Illinois, Health Sciences Center, Chicago
-- Treasurer M. Victoria Marx, M.D., FSIR, LAC and USC Medical Center,
Los Angeles
-- Immediate Past PresidentScott C. Goodwin, M.D., FSIR, University of
California, Irvine
Executive Council councilors include Donald F. Denny Jr., M.D., FSIR,
Princeton Healthcare System, N.J., health policy and economics; Brian
Funaki, M.D., FSIR, University of Chicago, postgraduate medical
education; Jafar Golzarian, M.D., FSIR, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Annual Scientific Meeting; Matthew S. Johnson, M.D.,
FSIR, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, member
services; Stephen T. Kee, M.D., MMM, FSIR, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical
Center, Los Angeles, SIR Foundation chair; Boris Nikolic, M.D., MBA,
FSIR, Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, N.Y., standards; and Daniel
A. Siragusa, M.D., FSIR, University of Florida, College of Medicine,
Jacksonville, graduate medical education.
Councilors-at-large include Michael D. Dake, M.D., FSIR, Falk
Cardiovascular Research Center, Stanford, Calif.; Laura Findeiss,
M.D., FSIR, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine,
Knoxville; and Sanjay Misra, M.D., FSIR, Mayo Clinic and Foundation,
Rochester, Minn. Ex-officio members include Ziv J Haskal, M.D., FSIR,
University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville,
editor-in-chief, Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, and
Terence A.S. Matalon, M.D., FSIR, Albert Einstein Medical Center,
Philadelphia, American Medical Association delegate.
More information about the Society of Interventional Radiology,
interventional radiologists and how to find an interventional
radiologist in your area can be found online at www.SIRweb.org. More
information about SIR 2014 is at www.SIRmeeting.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. Using X-ray, MRI and other
imaging to advance a catheter in the body, such as in an artery, they
treat disease at the source 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. 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. Follow SIR on Facebook and Twitter and
use #SIR2014 to keep up with news from SIR 2014.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/SIRLOGO
SOURCE Society of Interventional Radiology
-0- 03/26/2014
/CONTACT: Ellen Acconcia, (703) 460-5582, Maryann Verrillo, (703) 460-5572; March 20-21, Veronica Jackson, (312) 558-1770; March 22-27, San Diego News Room, (619) 525-6263, comm@SIRweb.org
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/SIRLOGO
/Web Site: http://www.sirweb.org
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