IRSA History

The Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia (IRSA) was first initiated in 1979 following a meeting the previous year at Hayman Island attended by a group of Australian and New Zealand Interventional Radiologists.

The first IRSA ASM was held at Falls Creek in Victoria, attended by 8 radiologists, their partners, and children. At this meeting it was decided that future meetings would be modelled on the English travelling club meetings, with an aim to include partners and children in future meetings. This has continued to the present day.

The early meetings were organised by Ken Thomson, Brian Parkinson and Kevin Bell. Their efforts in these early years saw the seed of IRSA develop. Professor Thomson, the first IRSA president, has been integral in making IRSA what it is today.

Professor Thomson

Professor Thomson, the first IRSA president, has been integral in making IRSA what it is today.

Professor Fred Keller

At the 1981 ASM, Professor Fred Keller was the invited international guest speaker.

Cook Medical and Schering were co-sponsors of the first meeting.

Meetings were held on a somewhat ad-hoc method over the next decade.

At the 1981 ASM, Professor Fred Keller was the invited international guest speaker.

ASMs were then held every 2-3 years until 2000 at which time the meeting became an annual event. In 2000 the IRSA membership voted to hold the ASM in Queenstown New Zealand every second year where practicable.

ASM Dates and Locations

  • 1979: Falls Creek, Victoria
  • 1981: Melbourne, Victoria
  • 1987: Alice Springs and Uluru, Northern Territory
  • 1989: Cairns, Queensland
  • 1991: Bali, Indonesia
  • 1993: Borneo
  • 1997: Melbourne, Victoria – combined with APCCVIR with the first live cross from Royal Melbourne Hospital to the World Trade Centre
  • 2000: Penang
  • 2001: Queenstown, New Zealand
  • 2002: ASM cancelled due to a coup in Thailand
  • 2003: Queenstown
  • 2004: Borneo
  • 2005: Queenstown
  • 2006: Christchurch, New Zealand
  • 2007: Borneo
  • 2008: Queenstown
  • 2009: Hamilton Island
  • 2010: Queenstown
  • 2011: Fiji
  • 2012: Queenstown
  • 2013: Broome
  • 2014: Queenstown
  • 2015: Bali
  • 2016: Queenstown
  • 2017: Port Douglas, Queensland
  • 2018 : Auckland – in conjunction with the APCCIVR ASM
  • 2019: Uluru, Northern Territory
  • 2020: No ASM held due to COVID pandemic
  • 2021: Hybrid ASM held on the Gold Coast due to COVID pandemic
  • 2022: Queenstown, New Zealand
  • 2023: Sydney, New South Wales

The first IRSA Gold Medallist was Geoff Reeves from Cook Medical in recognition of the many years of support by Cook of the IRSA ASM. Gold medallist since include Professor Ken Thomson, the founding father of IRSA, Dr Kevin Bell and Professor Tim Buckenham.

Executive positions and a constitution were formalised at the Melbourne meeting in 1979 and at that time included a president, treasurer, and secretary. Since then the Executive has expanded to include Immediate Past President, with Appointed Members including a Public Officer and Junior Executive Member.

IRSA Presidents

  • Ken Thomson: 1997 – 98
  • Toos Sachinwalla: 1998 – 1999
  • Ken Thomson: 1999 – 2003
  • Kevin Bell: 2003 – 2006
  • James Burnes: 2006 – 2011
  • Bill Clark: 2011 – 2013
  • Tim Buckenham: 2013 – 2015
  • John Vrazas: 2015 – 2019
  • Gerard Goh: 2019 – 2021
  • Chris Rogan: 2021 – 2023 (Current)
CIRSE logo

In 2011, IRSA formed an association with CIRSE, formalised at the 2011 CIRSE ASM in Munich. In 2016 this association was formalised, and IRSA members became eligible to sit the European Board of Interventional Radiology examination. Since this time many IRSA members have taken advantage of this opportunity, and have served as examiners on the EBIR committee.