RSNA 2023 Gold Medalists: Anne C. Roberts MD
Anne C. Roberts MD
“I have worked closely with Anne for nearly 3 decades in the leadership circles of the American College of Radiology, American Board of Radiology and the Society of Interventional Radiology,” said RSNA President Matthew A. Mauro, MD. “She has always stood tall in a field dominated by men. No one could question her logical approach to issues, her creativity and her commitment to advancing the field of IR.”
With more than 35 years of tenure at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, Dr. Roberts retired in 2022 and is a USCD distinguished professor of radiology, emeritus. She joined UCSD as an assistant clinical professor of radiology and rose to full professor in 1998.
Early in her career, Dr. Roberts took a sabbatical year to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Neurological Devices Office of Device Evaluation in the Center for Devices and Radiologic Health. During her time at the FDA, she gained insights into the processes for device approval—noting that delays often resulted from disconnects among developers and physicians—and she became a member of the FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Panel. She has served as a special representative on FDA panels including the Neurological Devices Panel and Gynecology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee Meeting.
An early investigator of embolization techniques for uterine fibroids, Dr. Roberts rigorously explored the evidence base for the procedure through funded research within the Uterine Artery Embolization Fibroid Registry Outcomes Database of the Society of Interventional Radiology. In her decades of hands-on clinical research experience, Dr. Roberts has focused on treatment of uterine fibroids with MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery and uterine artery embolization, pelvic congestion syndrome, fallopian tube recanalization and treatment of patients with invasive placenta of the uterus. She has interest in IVC filters, thrombolysis, and treatment of dialysis graft dysfunction.
An insightful leader, Dr. Roberts has served as president of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and of the Western Angiographic and Interventional Society. She served as chair of the RSNA interventional subcommittee of the Scientific Program and Refresher Course committees.
As a member of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Board of Chancellors she was appointed secretary and treasurer and then vice-president. In addition, she was a trustee of the American Board of Radiology and was named its first associate executive director for interventional radiology. Dr. Roberts has lent her clinical expertise to furthering radiology education, serving on the Radiology Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
She has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters and abstracts, has served in numerous visiting professorships and delivered more than 700 lectures at scientific meetings across the globe. Before deciding to pursue a career in medicine, Dr. Roberts studied history, earning a master’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her medical degree from UCSD, and then interned in obstetrics and gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She completed a residency and fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
For her lifetime of accomplishments, Dr. Roberts has been awarded gold medals from the ACR and SIR. She is a distinguished fellow of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe. She is an elected fellow of SIR, the ACR and the American Heart Association.
With more than 35 years of tenure at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, Dr. Roberts retired in 2022 and is a USCD distinguished professor of radiology, emeritus. She joined UCSD as an assistant clinical professor of radiology and rose to full professor in 1998.
Early in her career, Dr. Roberts took a sabbatical year to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Neurological Devices Office of Device Evaluation in the Center for Devices and Radiologic Health. During her time at the FDA, she gained insights into the processes for device approval—noting that delays often resulted from disconnects among developers and physicians—and she became a member of the FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Panel. She has served as a special representative on FDA panels including the Neurological Devices Panel and Gynecology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee Meeting.
An early investigator of embolization techniques for uterine fibroids, Dr. Roberts rigorously explored the evidence base for the procedure through funded research within the Uterine Artery Embolization Fibroid Registry Outcomes Database of the Society of Interventional Radiology. In her decades of hands-on clinical research experience, Dr. Roberts has focused on treatment of uterine fibroids with MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery and uterine artery embolization, pelvic congestion syndrome, fallopian tube recanalization and treatment of patients with invasive placenta of the uterus. She has interest in IVC filters, thrombolysis, and treatment of dialysis graft dysfunction.
An insightful leader, Dr. Roberts has served as president of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and of the Western Angiographic and Interventional Society. She served as chair of the RSNA interventional subcommittee of the Scientific Program and Refresher Course committees.
As a member of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Board of Chancellors she was appointed secretary and treasurer and then vice-president. In addition, she was a trustee of the American Board of Radiology and was named its first associate executive director for interventional radiology. Dr. Roberts has lent her clinical expertise to furthering radiology education, serving on the Radiology Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
She has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters and abstracts, has served in numerous visiting professorships and delivered more than 700 lectures at scientific meetings across the globe. Before deciding to pursue a career in medicine, Dr. Roberts studied history, earning a master’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her medical degree from UCSD, and then interned in obstetrics and gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She completed a residency and fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
For her lifetime of accomplishments, Dr. Roberts has been awarded gold medals from the ACR and SIR. She is a distinguished fellow of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe. She is an elected fellow of SIR, the ACR and the American Heart Association.