Clinical research

Every two years, SIR Foundation produces a list of priorities, which serve as the research agenda for the two years. This process allows us to address the issues of highest importance to our membership, patients, corporate partners and policymakers.

We ask for research priorities where additional research is needed in interventional radiology, specifically in the following areas:

• pre-clinical
• clinical development
• clinical implementation
• value-based care

This list is then considered by a group of leaders from the society and the foundation, and priorities are set to guide the research agenda.

The Research Consensus Panels (RCPs) have been conducted for several years by the SIR Foundation, resulting in expansion of research in many areas vital to the present and future practice of IR (e.g., musculoskeletal oncology interventions, prostate artery embolization, venous thrombosis, pelvic venous disease, patient-reported outcomes, cost analysis, etc.).

The Research Summits extend the opportunity to industry partners to actively participate in the discussion.  The goal is to highlight the expertise, knowledge and perspectives from industry that will foster collaboration, innovation and quality in IR research initiatives. 

SIR Foundation supports and coordinates meetings entitled research consensus panels/summits with multi-disciplinary experts to evaluate critical research topics in IR. The goal is to discuss the state of knowledge on a given topic, identify gaps, and develop a list of research priorities.

• Two SIR physician members are selected to lead this meeting and recommend the multi-disciplinary expert panel of potential participants.
• Following initial presentations and discussion by the panelists, ideas for research opportunities are submitted.
• The panelists review and prioritize all submissions according to critical need, feasibility, and potential impact, resulting in a final product of a list of actionable research priorities.
• Following the meetings, SIR Foundation requires the two lead investigators and panelists to submit a white paper manuscript to JVIR.

The SIR Foundation encourages submission of commentary in other specialty journals and continued discussion. Afterwards, the SIR Foundation releases a request for proposal to develop and fund related research projects.  

While submission of an idea does not guarantee that the topic will receive top prioritization, we believe that your participation will help us find the highest priority topics.

• In February, the SIR Foundation Clinical Research and Registries Committee discusses every topic submitted.
• The committee will then present a list of topics to the SIR & SIR Foundation Steering Council to narrow down it down in March.
• The SIR Foundation Board of Directors then reviews and approves the final list of priorities in June.