The Gold Medal, the SIR’s highest honor, is awarded not only for extraordinary service to SIR but to those who have dedicated their past and present talents to advancing the quality of medicine and patient care through the practice of interventional radiology. The Gold Medal presentations will take place on Sunday, March 24, at 10:30 a.m. MT, during the Opening Plenary Session.
SIR Today salutes the 2024 recipients of the most prestigious SIR awards with a personal look at their outstanding careers, asking them for a person, place and thing that has particularly inspired or influenced them. Watch for more articles about award winners during the annual meeting. View these award recipients' full bios.
Bien Soo Tan
Bien Soo Tan, MBBS, FRCR, FSIR, is a senior consultant at the department of vascular and interventional radiology, Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and a clinical professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School. He helped develop the interventional radiology services in SGH, establishing the center as the largest in Southeast Asia. He is a past president of the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR) and a past president of the College of Radiologists, Singapore. Dr. Tan has been recognized for his contributions with several awards, among which are the CIRSE Distinguished Fellow Award in 2013 and the 2022 Gold Medal of the APSCVIR.
Who: My parents are a key inspiration. They instilled in me the importance of these virtues: humility, hard work and helping others. These have been the beacons with which I have tried to live my life.
My mentors inspire me as well. I have been very fortunate to have had numerous mentors throughout my career. There are just too many to list all of them here. However, I must mention two very special people: Kim Ping Tan, MBBS, FRCR, FRCP, was my former head of department of diagnostic radiology at SGH. He was a visionary leader who was able to foresee future trends way before others could imagine them. He introduced numerous initiatives that initially puzzled and frustrated us, but he proved to be right later. He was instrumental in facilitating the development of interventional radiology in our department, as he realized the potential impact of this field. More importantly, he fervently believed that his younger colleagues should surpass him in ability, and thus nurtured and presented us with many career opportunities.
I also had the privilege of pursuing my IR fellowship at Guy’s Hospital with Andreas Adam, MBBS, FSIR, FRCR, professor emeritus of interventional radiology, King’s College London. He not only taught me the technical aspects of IR, but also emphasized the critical importance of developing IR as a clinical specialty. He continued to guide and mentor me after my fellowship and beyond. I have lost count of the times I sought his wise counsel even though we are separated by our long distance.
I also view several notable American IRs as my mentors, and I would like to especially mention Robert I. White, MD, FSIR, who has a soft spot for Asia and visited us many times to teach.
Last, but not least, my wife Soo See and my family. They are the rock of my life and without their unwavering love and understanding, I would not have been able to pursue my career to this level.
What: It is a privilege practicing medicine through the field of IR and touching the lives of people on a daily basis, especially when they are ill and vulnerable. To quote Dr. Edward Trudeau, I try to “cure sometimes, relieve often and comfort always.”
I am thankful for the privilege of practicing in a teaching institution where I encounter medical students, residents and fellows daily. It’s a privilege being involved in education initiatives around the world, specifically Asia. The engagement with these younger colleagues challenges me and keeps me on my toes. This special opportunity to teach and share allows me to touch the future.
Where: Guy’s Hospital London, U.K., where I pursued my IR fellowship. It was the first time I was immersed in an intense academic, clinical environment, and I learned not only the clinical aspects of IR but also got involved in IR research, including running clinical trials. I also encountered fellows from all over the world during my time there, which was the beginning of an international network that I would build upon later.
SGH, where I have practiced my whole career. The clinical environment, our leaders, our radiology colleagues, our fellow clinical colleagues and our patients and the trust they have placed in us at IR have allowed interventional radiology to develop and flourish over the course of my career. When I returned from my fellowship, we had three part-time interventional radiologists and a single angiographic suite. Now, 30 years later, we have a stand-alone IR clinical department with more than 20 full-time interventional radiologists running IR services at three hospitals. As an extension of my experience at Guy’s Hospital, we have been training fellows from across Asia and beyond. We are also actively involved in IR clinical trials and have published our scientific data extensively, helping to build the evidence for IR.
