Section award

Early Career RISE Award

The Early Career Section’s Recognizing Inspirational Service & Engagement (RISE) Award is presented annually to recognize an individual who has showcased leadership by consistently supporting early career IRs through mentorship, community-building and advocacy.

Closed
Nomination Oct 31, 2025

Award

Award presented at the SIR Annual Scientific Meeting.

Nomination due Oct 31, 2025

About

Inspired by the energy and community spirit of the 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, the ECS RISE Award was created to recognize an individual who has showcased leadership by consistently supporting early career IRs.

Eligibility

  • Physician attending or Emeritus with SIR membership 

  • Nominees should be able to showcase their leadership contributions for the advancement of early careers through mentorship, community-building and advocacy. 

  • This award is intended for someone who has consistently supported early career attendings in IR.

Nominations Process

  • Individuals can self-nominate or be nominated by a peer.

  • All nominations must be accompanied by the following required documents:

    • Two letters of support outlining how the nominee has been a change-maker for early careers in interventional radiology

    • Self-nominations are acceptable and should include an additional letter of support in addition to the two required letters.

    • Current curriculum vitae (CV) of the nominee.

2026 ECS RISE Award recipient
Gunn_Andrew_MD, FSIR-02 WEB.jpg

AJ Gunn, MD, FSIR

AJ Gunn, MD, FSIR, is chair of the department of radiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, holds the Harold Rosenbaum endowed chair, and serves as radiologist-in-chief of UK HealthCare in Lexington, KY. Dr. Gunn completed medical school at the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Society and awarded the Donald L. Alcott, MD Award for Clinical Promise. As a medical student, Dr. Gunn was selected for the competitive Howard Hughes Medical Institute – National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program. He completed his diagnostic radiology residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, followed by a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Following fellowship, he began as an assistant professor at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology/Washington University in St. Louis before joining the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). As faculty at UAB, Dr. Gunn held a variety of leadership roles across the academic mission, including program director, division director and vice chair of interventional affairs. His clinical practice focuses on image-guided interventions for patients with cancer, particularly patients with kidney and liver tumors, although he has built clinical service lines in uterine fibroid embolization, IVC filter retrievals, and trauma interventions as well. He began his current position at the University of Kentucky in July 2025.

Dr. Gunn is an active volunteer in multiple professional organizations. Currently, he is the incoming chair of the Renal and Genito-urinary Clinical Specialty Council (CSC) for the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) as well as being a member of the Guidelines and Statements Oversight Committee. His prior roles in SIR have included chair of the SIR Early Career Section (ECS), chair of the Membership Development Committee and vice chair of the Practice Development Committee. He is the current chair of the Certifying Exam Committee for IR for the American Board of Radiology (ABR), former chair of the Communications Committee for the Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO), co-chair of the RadiologyInfo.org Committee for the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and American College of Radiology (ACR), and on the Executive Committee for the RadExam website for the ACR.

Dr. Gunn has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and authored guidelines for SIR and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). His recognized work in the field has led to being an invited speaker at national and international meetings. He is on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology and routinely reviews articles for other prominent journals. He is the national primary investigator for two multi-center, prospective clinical trials.