WELCOME FROM THE BSIR PRESIDENT

Greetings fellow BSIR members,

As I write this, the annual BSIR meeting is almost upon us. It is a long time since the BSIR Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) was last held in Brighton. We must go back as far as 2009 for the previous visit to the Brighton seafront and before that to 2005.

I recall that previous BSIR ASMs in Brighton were always hugely enjoyable and popular among attendees. Although the BSIR ASM has always taken place in November, many people still managed to enjoy the seafront and a hardy few even braved the waves for a swim. I anticipate that our return to Brighton will be a similar experience for those of you who join us, and I hope that there will be many of you!

Dr Conrad von Stempel and his colleagues on the Scientific Programme Committee have produced (in my opinion) a wonderful and varied scientific programme with something for everybody. Dedicated topic streams have been instituted for this year and will run until Friday afternoon.

One of the notable events this year has been the creation of the Vascular Special Interest Committee. The BSIR Vascular SIC is chaired by Professor Mo Hamady. Mo and his committee have been working very hard on several areas to promote vascular IR. Additionally, they have created the new BSIR vascular meeting – VITALS (Vascular Innovation and Technology Advanced Learning Symposium) –which will take place in Sopwell House, St Albans in March 24-25th, 2025. Everybody is welcome to attend and details on how to register are already on the BSIR website

Another event to highlight is the new IR GIRFT project that is being led by Dr Alex Barnacle. Alex will be providing an update of how things are progressing on the Friday afternoon of the BSIR ASM.

I am also looking forward to dedicated sessions during the November ASM on IR training We will welcome Drs Kath Halliday and Priya Suresh, from the Royal College of Radiologists leadership, who will participate in these sessions and will be on hand to answer any questions that you might have regarding IR training and RCR matters in general.

Finally I would like to thank Nike Alesbury Julie Ellison and Abbey Templar Phillips for running the BSIR ship so well; and also my Executive Officer colleagues for their collegiate discussions, assistance and goodwill over the last 12 months.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Brighton in a few weeks’ time.

Robert Morgan

Consultant Interventional Radiologist, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust