faculty

FIRVA Co-Chair

Dr. Gerald Legiehn, MD, FRCPC
Clinical Associate Professor
Interventional Radiology
Vancouver General Hospital
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC

BIO

Gerald M Legiehn, MD is an Associate Professor and attending interventional radiologist at Vancouver General Hospital/University of British Columbia and is a member of The International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), and Canadian Interventional Radiology Association (CIRA).

Over the last 20 years, he has helped develop and currently participates in a large multi-disciplinary and multi-hospital interventional vascular anomaly program. He has authored a number of frequently cited reviews on vascular malformation therapy and has spoken in many related symposia.

Identifying the need for a greater level of participation and sharing of knowledge and skills within the IR community in vascular anomaly diagnosis and intervention, Dr. Legiehn proposed and co-founded The Forum for Interventional Radiology in Vascular Anomalies (FIRVA) in 2014. As a result, the First Biennial FIRVA meeting was held in Lake Louise, Alberta in March 2015 with the ongoing mission to bring experts in vascular anomalies intervention together with the knowledge and talent of the entire IR community by way of an in-depth and interactive Forum.

EDUCATION:
Medical: University of Manitoba College of Medicine, Winnipeg, Canada
Residency: Diagnostic Radiology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Fellowship: Interventional Radiology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland

FIRVA Co-Chair

Richard Owen, MD FRCR MRCP LMCC
Associate Professor
University of Alberta
Hospital and Stollery Children’s Hospital
Edmonton, AB

BIO

Interventional Radiologist with residencies in both DI and GIM, prior medical experience includes emergency medicine, orthopaedics and Obgyn with an IR fellowship in Calgary. Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Alberta.

Site lead for Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Alberta hospital and Stollery Children’s hospital. Previous treasurer of the Canadian Interventional Radiology Association, on the Executive for 8 years. A fervent supporter and promoter of IR across Canada and has spoken at interventional meetings across Canada, USA and Europe.

His IR interests include interventional oncology, vascular malformations, Musculoskeletal Interventions hepatobiliary interventions and pediatric IR.

Research interests include human pancreatic islet transplantation, the development of new embolic agents, embolic treatment of prostatic disease, interventional oncology and vascular malformations.

Gulraiz Chaudry, MB, ChB, MRCP, FRCR
Associate Professor of Radiology
Harvard Medical School
Director, Pediatric Vascular and Interventional Radiology Fellowship
Pediatric and Interventional Radiologist
Boston, MA

BIO:

Gulraiz Chaudry, MBChB, is a pediatric interventional radiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Chaudry graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School and completed residencies in pediatrics and radiology in the UK. These were followed by 2 years of fellowship, 1 in pediatric radiology and 1 in pediatric interventional radiology, both completed at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. He has been on staff at Boston Children’s Hospital since 2006.

Dr. Chaudry is director of the Vascular and Interventional Radiology Fellowship Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.  He serves on pediatric interventional radiology and the student and resident committees of the Society of Interventional Radiology and the pediatric examination committee of the American Board of Radiology.

His primary clinical and research interests are the imaging and interventional treatment of vascular anomalies. He introduced intralesional bleomycin sclerotherapy in Boston, which is used to treat microcystic lymphatic malformations and vascular anomalies of the airway and orbit. He identified the imaging features that differentiate lymphatic anomalies of bone, with significant implications for prognosis and treatment. Currently, in partnership with the Wyss Institute, he is working on the development of a new vascular embolic agent.

Josée Dubois, MD FRCPC MSc
Professor, Clinical Radiology
Dept. of Radiology, Radio-oncology and Nuclear Medicine
University of Montreal
Montreal, QC

BIO:

Dr. Josée Dubois holds a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Sherbrooke (1984) and a Specialist’s Certificate in diagnostic radiology from the RCPSC (1989). She sub-specialized in pediatric diagnostic and interventional radiology and MRI at Hôpital Neckers-Enfants Malades in Paris (1989-1991). She also has a Master Degree in biomedical sciences (with optional medical research) from the University of Montreal (2006).

In 1991, Dr. Dubois began her career in pediatric diagnostic and interventional radiology at CHU Sainte-Justine (mother and child university hospital center), where she is still practicing. She acts as Head of the Interventional Radiology Section since 1991. She has been acting as the Head of the Medical Imaging Department from 2008 to 2017. She has extensive clinical experience in the field of vascular anomalies and has widely published on a range of issues related to that topic. She is in charge of the vascular anomalies clinic at CHU Sainte-Justine since 1991.

Dr. Dubois is Professor, Clinical Radiology, Department of Radiology, Radio-oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the University of Montreal. She has been Director of the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program (UofM) from 1998 to 2008 and she has also been Vice-Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education (UofM) from 2011 to 2015.

Because of her reputation, she is a frequent lecturer in national and international congresses. She has also been principal investigator or co-investigator in many funded research projects. She is also author or co-author of more than 30 book chapters, 160 peer-reviewed articles and 425 research abstracts. She sits on different medical and university boards and committees.

Manraj (Raju) Kanwal Singh Heran, MD, FRCPC
Associate Professor
Diagnostic & Therapeutic Neuroradiology
Vancouver General Hospital
Pediatric Interventional Radiology
Department of Radiology
BC Children’s Hospital
Vancouver, BC

BIO:

Dr. Heran graduated from the University of British Columbia medical school in 1996.  After his rotating internship year at the Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster, BC), he completed his diagnostic radiology residency training through the University of British Columbia program in 2001, and obtained his FRCPC in Diagnostic Radiology the same year.  Having completed fellowships in Pediatric Radiology (BC Children’s Hospital, 2001), Vascular and Interventional Radiology (Vancouver General Hospital, 2002), as well as in Diagnostic Neuroradiology (Duke University Medical Center, 2003), he returned to a joint staff position between Vancouver General Hospital and BC Children’s Hospital in 2003.  Now in his fourteenth year on staff, Dr. Heran is Section Head of Pediatric Interventional Radiology at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital and a diagnostic and interventional neuroradiologist at Vancouver General Hospital.  Formerly Head of the Division of Neuroradiology at VGH, he is currently Director of the VGH Diagnostic Neuroradiology Fellowship Program.  Dr. Heran is internationally recognized in both fields, and is currently President-elect for the Society of Pediatric Interventional Radiology, after already serving as President for 2016.  With cross appointments in Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Pediatrics, Dr. Heran has received several awards for clinical and academic excellence, including the Family Centered Care Award at BC Children’s Hospital in 2007 and 2013, and the CAR Young Investigator’s Award in 2011.  He is heavily involved in all aspects of medical education and clinical research.  Areas of specific interest include the diagnosis and management of vascular malformations, interventional neuroradiology (including acute stroke and other ischemic cerebrovascular disease), and orbital radiology.

Maxim Itkin, MD
Professor of Radiology
Director, Center for Lymphatic Imaging and Interventions
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

BIO:

Dr. Itkin is a Professor of Radiology and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and where he is a director of the Center for Lymphatic Imaging and Interventions.

Dr. Itkin is nationally and internationally recognized for his clinical and research expertise in an interventional treatment of the lymphatic disorders.  Over the past 15 years, Dr. Itkin has been actively involved in the development of image-guided interventions of the lymphatic system (Thoracic Duct Embolization, liver lymphatic embolization, interstitial lymphatic embolization etc.) as a treatment of lymphatic disorders. Dr. Itkin popularized the intranodal lymphangiogram, as a substitute pedal lymphangiogram. This method  opened new horizons for lymphatic interventions. Dr. Itkin developed contrast enhanced MR lymphangiogram for non-invasive dynamic imaging of the lymphatic anatomy. This technique led to the discovery of pathophysiology and treatment of plastic bronchitis, neonatal chylothorax, congenital lymphodysplasia and protein loosing enteropathy.

Dr. Itkin has lectured extensively nationally and internationally and has 90 peer reviewed publications, reviews and editorials in leading journals. He is a member of many national and international professional societies and in 20011 was inducted into the Society of the Interventional Radiology as a Fellow member as recognition of significant contributions to the field of cardiovascular and interventional radiology.

Philip John, MBChB, DCH, FRCR, FRCP(C)
Associate Professor, Interventional Radiologist
Director – Vascular Anomalies Clinic, Department of Diagnostic Imaging
The Hospital for Sick Children & Toronto General Hospital
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

BIO:

Dr. Philip John is a full time Paediatric Interventional Radiologist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). He joined the staff in March 2002 arriving from the U.K. Before joining SickKids, he was a Consultant Paediatric Radiologist for 10 years at Birmingham Children’s Hospital where much of his work focused on vascular, hepatobiliary and transplant imaging including interventional radiology.

Dr. John was previously Division Head, Interventional Radiology (2009 to 2014). His interventional work involves vascular and non-vascular intervention.

Dr. John is also Director of the Vascular Anomalies Clinic at SickKids. This clinic manages infants and children with all types of vascular malformations and selected vascular tumours. Dr. John has developed two unique clinics for children with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome and those with complex osteoarticular vascular malformations. A full range of angiographic and vascular interventional work is carried out to support the treatment of all vascular anomalies.

Dr. John is also an Associated Staff Physician at the University Health Network in Toronto and has initiated a collaborative adult vascular malformation clinic at Toronto General Hospital.

Over the years John has delivered over 100 invited lectures (national, international and visiting professorships), been involved in over 60 published peer-reviewed articles, presented over 40 papers and been has been involved as a co-author in over 100 abstracts at scientific meetings.

Shellie Josephs, MD
Clinical Professor, Interventional Radiology
Stanford Children’s Health, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA

Specialties

• Interventional Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology
• Work and Education
• Professional Education
• University of Texas Southwestern Medical School Registrar, Dallas, TX, 5/30/1992

Residency

• UT Southwestern Radiology Residency, Dallas, TX, 6/30/1996

Fellowship

• UT Southwestern Pediatric Radiology Fellowship, Dallas, TX, 06/30/2014
• UTHSC San Antonio Vascular and Interventional Radiology Fellowship, San Antonio, TX, 6/30/1997

Board Certifications

• Interventional Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology, American Board of Radiology
• Pediatric Radiology, American Board of Radiology

Nevin de Korompay, MD
Interventional Radiologist
Kelowna General Hospital
University of British Columbia
Kelowna, BC

BIO:

Nevin de Korompay is an attending interventional radiologist at Kelowna General Hospital in British Columbia Canada.  He obtained his medical degree from the University of Toronto, completed residency in radiology at the University of Manitoba, and completed a fellowship in interventional radiology at UBC and Vancouver General Hospital.  He is a member of the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA), the Society of interventional Radiology (SIR) and the Canadian interventional Radiology association (CIRA).

During his time spent in Vancouver he developed a great interest in the identification and interdisciplinary management of vascular anomalies and has continued to develop the practice in the interior of BC.

Eric J. Monroe, MD
Assistant Professor of Interventional Radiology
University of Washington
Seattle’s Children’s Hospital
Seattle, WA

BIO:

Dr. Monroe is an Assistant Professor of Interventional Radiology with the University Of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital and serves on the Vascular Anomalies Team. He graduated from University of Wisconsin – Madison with a BS in biochemistry in 2005 and completed medical school at Washington University in Saint Louis in 2009.  After completing residency in diagnostic radiology and fellowship in interventional radiology at University of Washington, he joined faculty in 2015. His main interests include portomesenteric vasculature, vascular anomalies, and their overlap. Dr. Monroe is an active member of the Society of Pediatric Radiology, the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Society of Pediatric Interventional Radiology.

Gresham Richter, MD, FACS, FAAP
Professor & Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology
Director of Vascular Anomalies Center
Arkansas Childrens Hospital, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, AR

BIO:

Gresham Richter is a Professor, Vice Chair, and Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH). He is the distinguished recipient of the Hamlen and Siebert Endowed Chair in Pediatric Otolaryngology and the past chair-holder of the Benjamin and Milton Waner Endowed Chair in Pediatric Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery.  He has received numerous clinical and research awards including recognition for Best Doctor’s in America the past 5 years. He maintains a very busy clinical practice in pediatric otolaryngology and vascular anomalies, fields in which he has published over 90 manuscripts, 2 books and 30 book chapters.

Dr. Richter received his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Colorado.  He completed his residency in Otolaryngology at UAMS and fellowship in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He returned to Arkansas to join UAMS faculty and founded the Arkansas Vascular Biology Program, a robust laboratory at ACH dedicated to understanding and discovering new therapies for complex vascular lesions. He holds numerous administrative positions including the President of the Child’s Health Organization and Director of the Vascular Anomalies Clinic and Research Center at ACH. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Richter is an entrepreneur and CEO of GDT Innovations. He serves on the board of several national and international associations and is a happily married husband and father of three children.

Gilles Soulez, MD, MSc, FSIR
Vascular and Interventional Radiologist
Professor of Radiology & Chair of the Department of Radiology
Radio-oncology and Nuclear Medicine
University of Montreal
Montreal, QC

BIO:

Dr Gilles Soulez MD, MSc, FSIR  is a vascular and interventional radiologist a CHUM, University of Montréal. He completed his radiology residency in France (University Paris V) in 1988 and completed a 2-year fellowship combined with a certification of the French College of Interventional Radiology. He completed a MSc in clinical research and epidemiology at University of Montreal in 2000 and obtained a clinical researcher scholarship from the FRQ-S from the Junior I to National Scientist award. He is currently appointed as a Professor of Radiology at University of Montreal and is chairman of the department of Radiology, Radiation-Oncology and Nuclear Medicine. His research is dedicated to the advancement of vascular and interventional radiology and is funded by the Canadian Fund of Innovation, Canadian Institute of Health Research, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council, Fonds de la Recherché en Santé du Québec (FRQ-S).  He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papersHe has authored and coauthored 9 patents and is very active in technological transfer with leader companies in this field (ie: Siemens Medical, Cook medical).

He was honored by the Award of excellence and Innovation from Cardiovascular and interventional Radiology Society of Europe (2013), the prize of Innovation (2008) and prize Bernadette Nogrady (1997) from the Société de Radiologie du Québec. He is vice president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists.

Sam Stuart, BSc MBBS FRCR
Interventional Radiologist
Great Ormond Street Hospital
London, England

BIO:

Sam is an interventional radiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. He has a keen interest in the management of vascular anomalies and the future methods that may be employed in managing them. He is part of a team with a busy weekly clinic and treating patients every work day. He also runs a busy weekly venous disease clinic treating adults with venous disease. Outside of work he enjoys playing soccer, dancing to Michael Jackson and learning about Thomas the Tank Engine with his son.

Avnesh S Thakor, BA, MA, MSc, MD, PhD, MB, BChir, FHEA, FRCR(IR)
Assistant Professor, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

BIO:

Dr. Thakor is an Assistant Professor in Interventional Radiology and a Clinician Scientist at Stanford University.   He is dual trained in both adult and pediatric interventional radiology and currently focuses his clinical care on children.  He also runs the “Interventional Regenerative Medicine and Imaging Laboratory” focused on stem cell biology and organ regeneration.

Robert L Vogelzang, MD
Albert Nemcek Education Professor of Radiology
Professor of Radiology, Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University
Chicago, Il

BIO:

Robert L. Vogelzang is the Albert Nemcek Education Professor in Radiology and Professor of Radiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  .  This was followed by an appointment to the Northwestern faculty as the second full-time member of the Division of Interventional Radiology.  In 1985 he became the chief of vascular and interventional radiology, a post he held for over 30 years as the division developed into one of the premier academic IR centers in the United States.  He has had the honor and privilege of training over 160 IR fellows including Albert A. Nemcek Jr. MD, Howard B Chrisman MD and many others who he mentored in interventional radiology and who became leaders in academic IR. Many of these individuals were first advised by Dr. Vogelzang as Northwestern medical students.  He has mentored and trained 11 of the 13 members of Northwestern’s Division of Interventional Radiology including James C. Carr MD, the Knight Family Professor of Cardiac Imaging at Northwestern.

Dr. Vogelzang’s career, research, and academic interests have paralleled and mirrored the dramatic evolution of interventional radiology, a field he terms “the most elegantly simple method in the history of medicine” from its origins in diagnostic radiology into a force which has transformed the treatment of patients in innumerable ways.  He has authored over 175 scientific papers and 63 book chapters. Vogelzang’s research and clinical interest have been diverse and catholic and included the development of methods to curatively treat vascular malformations, uterine fibroid embolization, vascular disease and, more recently, medical anthropology. His interest in vascular malformations dates to the earliest days of his IR career and he has actively and persistently been involved in research and clinical care in this area since then.

Dr Vogelzang has had played a prominent role as a national leader in IR and served as President of the Society of Interventional Radiology, which also awarded him its Gold Medal in 2016 and for which he delivered the prestigious Dotter Lecture in 2003 where he issued an early call for health care reform. He was the SIR delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates (and was instrumental in achieving SIR’s seat there) and has been a specialty adviser to the AMA Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) since 1992.

Prof. Dr. Walter A. Wohlgemuth, EBIR
Director, Interdisciplinary Vascular Anomalies Center
University Medical Center Halle
Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Halle (Saale), GR

BIO:

Professor. Dr. med. Dr. habil. rer. pol. Walter Wohlgemuth, born 15.May 1966, studied Medicine at the University of Regensburg, the Technical University of Munich and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and Health Economy at the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Approbation as physician in 1994, during the same year he acquired the title of M. D. Residencies at the Clinic of Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology and at the Clinic of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology at the Klinikum Augsburg and at the Clinic of Radiology at the Klinikum Ingolstadt, Germany, were followed by a promotion as Funktionsoberarzt in 2001 and as Oberarzt and head of the Department of Vascular and Interventional Radiology in 2003.

Accreditation as Neuroradiologist in 2006.

Since 2002 he worked as scientific assistant at the Institute for Medical Management and Health Sciences at the University of Bayreuth. In July 2005 Habilitation at the Jurisprudential and Economical Faculty, University of Bayreuth with a Venia Legendi in the subjects of “Medical Management and Health Sciences”.

From 2009 to 2011 director of the Center for Vascular Malformations at the Klinikum Augsburg.

Oct. 2011 to Mai 2017 Full Professor and head of the Department of Interventional Radiology at the University Clinic Regensburg. 2012 – 2017 head of the Interdisciplinary Center for Vascular Anomalies at the University of Regensburg. In 2014 research fellowship at the Boston Childrens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

2015 – 2017 head of the first Interdisciplinary Center of Pediatric-Interventional Radiology in Germany.

Since 2017 President of the German Interdisciplinary Society of Vascular Anomalies.

Since June 2017 until today Director of the University Clinic and Policlinic of Radiology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Head of the Interdisciplinary Vascular Anomalies Center University Halle-Wittenberg.