RSNA Press Release

CHICAGO, Nov. 30, 2009 — Today the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) awarded honorary membership to three individuals who have distinguished themselves as outstanding contributors to the field of radiology and its allied sciences. The recipients were Lizbeth Kenny, M.D., FRANZCR, from Queensland, Australia; Borut Marincek, M.D., from Zurich, Switzerland; and Ho-Young Song, M.D., Ph.D., from Seoul, Korea.

Lizbeth Kenny, M.D., FRANZCR

A champion of multidisciplinary cancer management, Lizbeth Kenny, M.D., FRANZCR, is underscoring the role of radiology in revolutionizing patient care.

"Dr. Kenny's work is brimming with evidence of her extraordinary ability to deliver excellence, no matter the setting or the scale," said 2009 RSNA President Gary J. Becker, M.D.

"I feel quite overcome and humbled by the honor bestowed on me by RSNA," Dr. Kenny said. "I have admired RSNA all of my professional life and it has been a privilege and true pleasure for me to work with the Society closely over these past years."

Dr. Kenny was president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) from 2005 to 2007. She also served as dean of the Faculty of Radiation Oncology from 1998 to 2002. During her term as dean, she oversaw development of Australia's National Strategic Plan for Radiation Oncology. She is also chair of the Quality Program in Radiation Treatment Service Delivery.

An RSNA member since 2007, Dr. Kenny serves on RSNA's International Advisory Committee. She has also served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology's International Affairs Committee and the International Relations Committee of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and has been awarded honorary ESR membership. She has twice been an invited lecturer for the American Society for Radiation Oncology and is an honorary fellow of the American College of Radiology.

She served as 2002 president of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia. With the Central Area Health Service, she helped establish a statewide plan for universal cancer services. She was 2001-2004 chair of the National Assessment of Clinical Cancer Research Grants Applications and currently serves in several capacities for Cancer Australia.

Dr. Kenny earned her medical degree from Queensland University in 1980 and completed a residency at Royal Brisbane Hospital and specialty training in radiation oncology. She spent nine years in private practice before being appointed a senior staff specialist in radiation oncology at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, a position she has held since 1997. She became director of cancer services at Queensland Health in 2005.

Borut Marincek, M.D.

An esteemed educator and natural leader, Borut Marincek, M.D., is helping to guide radiology's advancement throughout the world.

"Dr. Marincek personifies the best attributes of a Swiss scientist and humanist—he is not only hard-working, precise and exquisitely cultured, but also thoroughly gentle, kind and giving," said 2009 RSNA President Gary J. Becker, M.D.

Dr. Marincek said he is extremely proud and privileged to receive such a distinguished award. "Honorary membership in RSNA is not just a personal honor for me, but it is also a very special honor for my team in our department at Zurich University Hospital and for the European Congress of Radiology (ECR)," he said.

An RSNA member since 1987, Dr. Marincek is past president and an honorary member of the Swiss Society of Radiology, as well as the 1986 recipient of its Jubilee Award and holder of its 2007 Hanz Rudolf Schinz Medal. He is also an honorary member of the German Radiological Society, Royal Belgian Radiological Society and European Society of Cardiac Radiology, as well as a recipient of the Distinguished International Member Award of the Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists. Dr. Marincek delivered the Dr. Diwan Chand Aggarwal Memorial Oration to the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association and, as an officer and past president of the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR), he delivered its 2004 lecture to the Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists in the U.S. ESGAR is the second largest among the European radiological subspecialty societies. He is also the first Swiss president of ECR.

Dr. Marincek received his medical degree from the University of Zurich Medical School. During his residencies at the University Hospitals of Zurich and Berne, he studied pathology, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation oncology and afterward joined the staff of Berne's Institute of Diagnostic Radiology (IDR).

In 1979, Dr. Marincek traveled to the U.S. to pursue a research fellowship in oncologic diagnostic radiology at Stanford University Hospital. He then returned to IDR at Berne as a clinical associate. He achieved the rank of associate professor of radiology at Berne in 1986 and was appointed vice chair of IDR at Zurich University Hospital in 1987. In 1993, he became a professor of radiology at the University of Zurich, and from 1995 to 1997 he served as chair of IDR and Nuclear Medicine at Zug Cantonal Hospital. In 1997, he assumed his current position of professor of radiology and chair of the IDR at Zurich University Hospital.

Ho-Young Song, M.D., Ph.D.

Ho-Young Song, M.D., Ph.D., has come full circle since his days as a radiology resident in Korea dreaming of standing at an RSNA podium to present a scientific paper. In the roughly three decades since then, Dr. Song has become an internationally recognized authority on interventional and cardiovascular radiology.

"It is good fortune that in my career my path has intersected with Dr. Song's, and, as a result, I have gotten to know this outstanding leader and prolific, yet extremely humble, innovator who holds approximately 20 stent patents," said 2009 RSNA President Gary J. Becker, M.D.

"It is a tremendous honor and thrill to have been chosen as an RSNA honorary member," Dr. Song said. "Since I started my residency in radiology, I have been deeply grateful to have been inspired and nurtured by RSNA and its enthusiastic members, with whom I have long-standing scientific and personal friendships."

Dr. Song has been an RSNA member since 1989. He is an eminent member of the Korean Radiological Society, where he serves on the Scientific and Board Examination Committee. He is also a member of the Korean Society of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Korean Society of Cardiovascular Interventional Radiology, the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe, and the Society of Interventional Radiology.

Currently assuming the role of editor of the nonvascular section of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Dr. Song has also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Journal of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology and Journal of Chinese Interventional Radiology, among other editorial positions.

Under the promotion of the Korean government, Dr. Song started the small venture company, S&G Biotech, providing expertise for vascular and nonvascular stents, and now serves as the company's advisor.

Dr. Song earned his medical degree from Jeonbuk National University in Jeollabuk-Do, South Korea in 1979. He later returned in 1986 as an assistant professor of radiology. During his seven years at the university, he collaborated with specialists in other disciplines to develop esophageal stents. Dr. Song holds American and European patents for a self-expanding endovascular stent.

In 1993, Dr. Song joined the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea. He became a professor in 1998 and chair of the Department of Radiology in 2002 before assuming his current position as a professor of radiology and section chief of the Department of Vascular and Interventional Radiology in 2006.

Note: Copies of RSNA 2009 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press09 beginning Monday, Nov. 30.

RSNA is an association of more than 44,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to excellence in patient care through education and research. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)