Key Points
- The Foundation recently presented four outstanding researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders with awards at the ISTU meeting in Taiwan.
- Learn more about each of the award recipients’ contributions to the field of focused ultrasound.
The Foundation recently recognized four outstanding researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders for their contributions to the field of focused ultrasound. The awards were presented at the 23rd annual International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) in Taipei, Taiwan.
“We are proud to celebrate the accomplishments of these four pioneers in the field of focused ultrasound,” said Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD. “The selection process was especially challenging this year with a number of qualified candidates – an encouraging sign that the field is continuing to push the envelope of what focused ultrasound can do. We also want to thank ISTU for hosting the awards this year and for an excellent meeting.”
Read on for more information on each award recipient.
Visionary Award
Elisa E. Konofagou, PhD
The Foundation is honored to present Elisa E. Konofagou, PhD, with the 2024 Visionary Award, honoring her passion and persistence as a pioneer of focused ultrasound.
Dr. Konofagou is the Robert and Margaret Hariri Professor of Biomedical Engineering as well as a professor of radiology and neurosurgery at Columbia University. She also directs the university’s Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory, where her research in focused ultrasound addresses brain drug delivery, breast cancer treatment, and neuromodulation.
Dr. Konofagou is a pioneer and leading expert in using focused ultrasound for blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening to enable delivery of therapeutics for treating a wide range of neurological disorders. She has conducted clinical trials investigating focused ultrasound to open the BBB in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and in pediatric patients with diffuse midline glioma. She has also explored focused ultrasound for benign and malignant breast tumors as well as peripheral neuromodulation for pain treatment in the sural nerve and carpal tunnel syndrome in other clinical studies. Her preclinical studies have used the technology for pancreatic cancer ablation and brain neuromodulation.
The Foundation has supported many of Dr. Konofagou’s research projects, including her current brain studies, neuropathic pain studies, and earlier research opening the BBB to deliver anti-alpha synuclein antibodies to the brain in a preclinical Parkinson’s model.
Previous Visionary Award recipients have included Gail terHaar, PhD (2022), Lawrence Crum, PhD (2020), Narendra Sanghvi, PhD (2018), Kullervo Hynynen, PhD (2016), and Motti Zisser (2014).
Clinical Adoption Award
Prof. Wladyslaw Gedroyc, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR
The Foundation selected Professor Wladyslaw “Wady” Gedroyc, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR, as the recipient of the 2024 Clinical Adoption Award. This award recognizes his dedication to advancing the field of focused ultrasound and his efforts that have led to a significant number of patient treatments.
Prof. Gedroyc is a consultant radiologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College National Health Service (NHS) Trust, and has been a champion of focused ultrasound for more than 20 years. He has used focused ultrasound to treat more than 800 patients, beginning with women with uterine fibroids for many years and, more recently, patients with essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease.
His research interests include using focused ultrasound for facet joint treatment, liver tumors, and local drug activation in the brain to treat brain tumors and possibly Alzheimer’s disease in the future.
Prof. Gedroyc has also championed the reimbursement of focused ultrasound treatment for essential tremor. His efforts were integral to the NHS England decision to reimburse the treatment.
The inaugural Clinical Adoption Award was presented to Professor Zhibiao Wang, MD, in 2022.
Commercialization Pathfinder Award
Rosie Xing, PhD
The Foundation is honored to present Rosie Xing, PhD, with the Commercialization Pathfinder Award, which recognizes her contributions to advancing the commercial applications of focused ultrasound technology.
Professor Xing is the managing director of Global Planning, International Marketing, and Business at Chongqing Haifu Medical Technology Co., Ltd. in Chongqing, China. She had led the company’s International Academic Exchanges as well as International Marketing and Sales since 2017.
Chongqing Haifu was established in 1999, and to date, more than 286,000 patients have been treated using its devices. The vast majority of these patients suffer from benign uterine fibroids. The company has more than 400 centers globally, including 60 centers outside of China across 32 countries. There are currently no sites in the US.
Outside of uterine fibroids, Chongqing Haifu has developed focused ultrasound to effectively treat adenomyosis, another common benign uterine condition that impacts fertility more significantly than fibroids. Chongqing Haifu is currently expanding focused ultrasound to treat breast fibroadenoma as well as malignant tumors in the pancreas, liver, kidney, bone, and breast.
Dr. Xing is also a Baru-Professor and the Director of the Laboratory of Translational Cancer Stem Cell Research at Chongqing Medical University.
Kobi Vortman, PhD, received the inaugural Commercialization Pathfinder Award in 2022.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Chrit Moonen, PhD
The Foundation honors Chrit Moonen, PhD, with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, highlighting his devotion to advancing focused ultrasound therapy and improving the lives of patients.
With more than 30 years in the field, Dr. Moonen has explored focused ultrasound in his roles at the National Institutes of Health, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the University Medical Center (UMC) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. At CNRS, his laboratory closely collaborated with Philips during the development of the Sonalleve platform, and he helped create Image Guided Therapy, a focused ultrasound company.
Most recently, at UMC Utrecht, Dr. Moonen was integral in clinical trials investigating the technology for the palliation of painful bone metastases, breast cancer, and the design of a clinical trial of histotripsy in combination with immunotherapy. Under his leadership, UMC Utrecht became the Foundation’s 10th focused ultrasound Center of Excellence.
In 2023, Prof. Moonen left his position at UMC Utrecht after reaching the mandatory retirement age in the Netherlands and became the Foundation’s scientific programs director. In this role, he is co-chairing the Foundation’s Research and Education Team.
Yoav Medan, PhD, received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.