Award of Excellence and Innovation in IR
The Award of Excellence and Innovation in Interventional Radiology, sponsored by the Rolf W. Günther Foundation for Radiological Sciences, is awarded on a yearly basis for outstanding contributions to the advancement of interventional radiology. Since its establishment in 2012, this distinction has been granted to some of the most innovative physicians in the field.
The recipient of the award will receive a certificate of merit which will be awarded during the Opening and Awards Ceremony of the CIRSE Annual Scientific Congress and a cash prize of €6,000.
Congratulations to this year’s winner!
This year, the honour will go to Prof. Riad Salem for his work on radioembolization as a treatment option for liver cancer leading to international guideline incorporation: 20-year journey. He will receive the award during the CIRSE Annual Congress in Barcelona.
The innovation
Prof. Salem’s dedication to innovative research in interventional radiology and oncology led him to explore different aspects of radioembolization, which has allowed him to establish the basis for its worldwide application in the treatment of liver tumours and led to the incorporation of yttrium-90 (Y90) in treatment recommendations and guidelines.
Over a span of more than 25 years of research work, Prof. Salem published outstanding study data on his seminal work, demonstrating that Y90 radioembolization is not only a palliative measure in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but should also be considered as a curative therapy in early HCC using radiation segmentectomy, alongside ablation, resection and transplantation. His publications have further shown that Y90 has now become the most used bridging therapy in the transplanted patient in the US.
Prof. Salem’s pioneering studies included the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing Y90 to the gold standard conventional trans-arterial chemoembolization (cTACE), showing that Y90 exhibited much longer time to progression than cTACE. A multicentre study exploring the role of Y90 in solitary unresectable HCC led to the FDA approval of Y90 for HCC, the first interventional oncology medical device to achieve this recognition. In a ten-year effort, an RCT comparing Y90 + chemotherapy to chemotherapy for colorectal liver metastases was able to show that Y90 significantly improved progression-free survival over standard of care. More recent studies have highlighted the multidisciplinary nature of treating liver cancer and present a novel network map showing the clinical flow and algorithm of HCC patients. Most recently, as co-global principal investigator, he completed FRONTIER, a first-in-human clinical trial investigating the safety of neuroendovascular delivery of Y90 for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.
About the winner
Dr. Riad Salem is Professor of Radiology, Medicine and Surgery, and Vice-Chair of Image-Guided Therapy in the Department of Radiology at Northwestern University in Chicago. He is also System Vice-President for Interventional Radiology at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. He held the title of Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology between 2012-2025. Professor Salem graduated in medicine in 1993 from McGill University, in Montreal, Canada and spent his medical residency in radiology at George Washington University, where he simultaneously obtained an MBA in finance, and completed his fellowship in interventional radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1998.
Riad Salem’s areas of interest include the use of image-guided techniques, such as Y90, for the treatment of liver malignancies. He has also pioneered novel techniques for the treatment of complex portal vein thrombosis using the trans-splenic and trans-mesenteric approaches. He has lectured internationally and published extensively on image-guided oncologic interventions and complex portal vein reconstruction. As of July 2025, Prof Riad Salem has an h-index of 112, a total of 43,055 citations and 450 original, peer-reviewed research articles.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].
Picture gallery
Past winners
| Year | Winner | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Reto Bale for his work on stereotactic thermal tumor ablation with image fusion for intraprocedural treatment validation. |
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| 2023 | Yuji Okuno for his pioneering work on the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal inflammation and pain. | |||
| 2022 | William T. Kuo for his work on the Excimer laser-assisted removal of embedded IVC filters. | |||
| 2021 | Ulrich Speck and Bruno Scheller for their work on using drug-coated balloons (DCB) for the local treatment of intimal hyperplasia. | |||
| 2020 | Frédéric Deschamps for his work on percutaneous fixation by internal cemented-screw in bone cancer patients | |||
| 2019 | Boris Guiu and Mathieu T. Boulin for their work on Idarubicin as Anticancer Agent for Transarterial Chemoembolisation (TACE) of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) | |||
| 2018 | M. Itkin for his development of new imaging and intervention techniques of the lymphatic system | |||
| 2017 | Hans Henkes for his pioneering development of cerebral stent thrombectomy in the management of acute ischemic stroke | |||
| 2017 | MRCLEAN trialists for their groundbreaking trial on endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke | |||
| 2016 | F. Carnevale for his pioneering work on prostate embolisation | |||
| 2015 | P. Bize, G. Borchard, A. Denys, K. Fuchs and O. Jordan for their research on drug-eluting beads loaded with anti-angiogenic agents for chemoembolisation | |||
| 2014 | M.G.E.H. Lam, J.F.W. Nijsen and M.A.A.J. van den Bosch for their development of the Holmium-166 microspheres and assessing safety and maximum tolerated radiation dose | |||
| 2013 | S. Lerouge and G. Soulez for their development of an embolizing sclerosing hydrogel for the treatment of endoleaks, vascular malformations and venous disease | |||
| 2012 | A. Bolia and J.A. Reekers for their development and promotion of subintimal angioplasty | |||
CIRSE would like to warmly thank the R.W. Günther Foundation for funding the award.
