April 2021
In recognition of his outstanding, internationally-recognised achievements and leadership in the areas of neuroradiology and artificial intelligence, Professor Paul Maria Parizel of Perth, Western Australia, will receive the ESR Gold Medal at ECR 2021.
Professor Parizel is the inaugural David Hartley Chair of Radiology at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) and the Director of the Western Australian National Imaging Facility (NIF) node.
Graduating from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, he trained in radiology at his alma mater, with subsequent fellowships in neuroradiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Hôpital Erasme, University of Brussels. He initiated the division of neuroradiology at Antwerp University Hospital. In 1994, he obtained his PhD with a doctoral dissertation on the influence of field strength on magnetic resonance imaging and was the recipient of a fundamental clinical research grant from the Foundation for Scientific Research in Belgium.
From 2003 to 2019, Professor Parizel was Professor and Chair of Radiology at Antwerp University Hospital and tenured full Professor of Radiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Antwerp, representing the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and is currently a member of the Academic Board of the University of Western Australia and the Clinical Staff Association at Royal Perth Hospital.
Throughout his career, Professor Parizel has always been interested in integrating scientific research with patient-oriented clinical applications, focusing on neuroradiology and MRI. He also maintains a strong interest in developing and evaluating artificial intelligence in radiology and serves on medical advisory panels of several companies.
Professor Parizel has authored or co-authored over 450 peer-reviewed scientific papers and more than 40 book chapters, with an h-index of 63 (Google Scholar). He has been editor or co-editor of several books and has been awarded competitive research grants in Europe and Australia. He is a regular speaker at international radiology conferences across the world and a frequent lecturer in courses and symposia. He has successfully supervised 22 PhD students and mentored numerous trainee radiologists at Antwerp University Hospital and, recently, at Royal Perth Hospital.
Professor Parizel has served as President of the European Congress of Radiology (ECR), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), President of European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR), and President of the Royal Belgian Radiological Society (RBRS). He has been awarded Honorary Membership of the RSNA, ASNR, ESNR, and RANZCR. Moreover, he is an honorary member of the national radiology societies of Russia, Serbia, Romania, Spain, Greece, France, Israel, Algeria, Switzerland, Cuba, Italy, Peru, and Brazil.
Professor Parizel’s son, Maxim, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Antwerp as a medical doctor and works as a board-certified anatomical pathologist in Belgium.
Since 2019, Professor Parizel has worked in Perth, Western Australia, and lives in a house between the Swan River and the Indian Ocean, where he likes to spend time relaxing on the beach. He loves reading (especially military history), travelling to unusual places, classical music, and ballet, and is a member of the Director’s Circle of the Western Australian Ballet Company.
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