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NASHVILLE (March 28, 2025)—The Society of Interventional Radiology celebrates a half-century of harnessing the power of image-guided therapy to improve lives of patients worldwide at its Annual Scientific Meeting in Nashville, March 29–April 2.

“Every day, interventional radiologists apply the best of today’s medicine to develop, test and deliver breakthrough treatments for hard-to-treat conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic pain,” said SIR President Robert J. Lewandowski, MD, FSIR. “The society’s enduring mission is to provide a venue that brings together physicians’ insights, professional expertise and innovations to change medical practice for the better and improve the standard of patient care.”

The Annual Scientific Meeting will feature events to mark the 50th anniversary of the society’s incorporation in 1975, including the SIR 50 and Forward Experience, an interactive exhibit showcasing key IR and SIR milestones and artifacts from across the timeline and SIR’s role in shaping the specialty.

SIR Foundation is also celebrating 50 years of evidence-based innovation with the 50 for SIR 50 campaign aimed at seeding the next generation of IR research and excellence.

Anniversary celebrations are already underway online on SIR’s new website. The 50 and Forward Hub on sirweb.org features a timeline and testimonial videos about watershed moments from SIR’s first 50 years. Here SIR members can record their own videos about their SIR experience.

Additional remembrances can be found through SIR’s publications—The Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), IR Quarterly (IRQ) magazine and the Kinked Wire podcast.

Key publication highlights include:

• When dinosaurs roamed the IRth (JVIR)
• IR evolutions (IRQ)
• The growth of interventional radiology and vascular care with guest Barry T. Katzen, MD, FSIR (The Kinked Wire)

Five facts about SIR:

• SIR has only been SIR since 2002. It was originally the Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (SCVR) and later became the Society for Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (SCVIR) in 1983.
• SIR has grown from 48 founding members in 1975 to 8,727 members today.
• SIR Foundation started in 1989 as the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Research and Education Foundation (CIRREF).
• SIR led the way in IR certifications, helping to create the first fellowship in 1991 and the IR residency program in 2014.
• SIR was instrumental in getting the American Board of Medical Specialties to recognize IR as a distinct subspecialty of radiology in 1994 and a distinct primary specialty in 2014.