CIRSE Annual Congress 2026

Dr. Walid completed his pediatric interventional radiology training at the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids), University of Toronto, Canada. He is one of approximately one hundred dedicated fellowship-trained pediatric interventional radiologists worldwide. He joined Sidra Medicine in 2018 where he is currently a senior attending physician at and the Pediatric Interventional Radiology Fellowship Program Director. Dr. Mubarak organizes several training programs for interventional skills internationally. To date, Sidra Medicine is the country’s sole provider of pediatric interventional radiology services. Dr. Walid currently chairs Sidra Medicine’s Vascular Access Committee, serves as the modality lead for interventional radiology, and leads the continuing medical education (CME) working group. Having completed a diploma in healthcare management from Toronto, Dr. Walid is interested in quality improvement and risk mitigation in the angio suite, as well as optimizing patient flow and enhancing cost-effectiveness. Dr. Walid has led several local, regional, and world-firsts in interventional radiology, including high-risk deliveries in the angiography suite, a one-stop-shop pediatric urolithiasis service in interventional radiology, biodegradable airway stenting in children, a cosmetic (no neck incision) portacath placement service, and one of the world’s highest volume interventional g-tube services. Dr. Walid has also participated in the activation, renovation, and expansion of the angiography suites and interventional services at Sidra Medicine. Dr. Walid’s areas of expertise encompass vascular interventions, vascular anomalies, airway management, oncology, and fibroid interventions. Additionally, he is dedicated to medical education, faculty development, and professional growth. As a co-founder of several specialty-driven education workshops both nationally and internationally, Dr. Walid has made significant contributions to the field of interventional radiology. Recently, he has been appointed as a regional IR board examiner, further solidifying his position as a leader in the industry. On a daily basis, Dr. Walid is actively involved in performing minimally invasive procedures, providing patient care, teaching, and participating in the multidisciplinary management of complex patients. Dr. Walid’s academic accomplishments include the publication of several articles and a book chapter. He is currently engaged in ongoing research projects that are poised for publication. Furthermore, he serves as a reviewer for two esteemed interventional radiology journals and societies.

Jan P. Goltz, MD, is a Professor of Radiology at the University of Lübeck and the Head of the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology/Neuroradiology at SANA Hospital Lübeck, Germany. As a Fellow of CIRSE and an EBIR-ES certified specialist, he is a leading expert in interventional radiology and vascular medicine, currently serving as Deputy Director of the SANA Heart & Vascular Centre. His extensive academic and clinical career across Germany and South Africa focuses on advancing minimally invasive image-guided therapies and complex endovascular interventions.

Professor Vincent Vidal is Head of Interventional Radiology at Timone University Hospital in Marseille, France, and Professor of Radiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University. He also serves as Director of the Experimental Interventional Imaging Laboratory (LIIE), a translational research unit dedicated to image-guided therapies and innovative endovascular technologies. Professor Vidal earned both his M.D. and Ph.D. from Aix-Marseille University. Early in his career, he developed a strong international academic foundation through research and clinical fellowships in Canada, including a research fellowship at the University of Toronto and combined clinical and research fellowships at the University of Montreal (2003–2004). These formative experiences shaped his long-term commitment to innovation, academic collaboration, and the global development of interventional radiology. His clinical and research activities focus primarily on embolization, with particular interest in developing safer, more accessible, and biologically compatible embolic materials. Over the past decade, he has introduced three innovative concepts that reflect this vision. The first, Emborrhoid, is a minimally invasive technique involving embolization of the superior rectal arteries for the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease. This approach has contributed to expanding the therapeutic spectrum of endovascular management in benign pathology and has gained international recognition. The second concept, FairEmbo, explores embolization using permanent and absorbable sutures as low-cost embolic agents. Designed to address disparities in access to interventional radiology, FairEmbo represents an effort to adapt advanced techniques to resource-limited settings while maintaining safety and efficacy standards. The third innovation, Embobio, introduces organic embolization using a novel agar-agar–based embolic agent. This research reflects Professor Vidal’s broader interest in biologically derived and environmentally responsible medical technologies, aiming to improve biocompatibility while reducing the ecological footprint of implantable devices. Beyond technological innovation, Professor Vidal is deeply engaged in structuring and strengthening interventional radiology at both national and international levels. He serves as President of the Fédération de Radiologie Interventionnelle (FRI) within the French Society of Radiology (SFR), where he actively contributes to the organization, recognition, and strategic development of interventional radiology in France. Internationally, he leads the FairEmbo team, dedicated to advancing interventional radiology in emerging countries across Western and Central Africa through sustainable training models and institutional partnerships. He is also the initiator of IRIS (International Radiology in Space), a multidisciplinary initiative exploring the adaptation of interventional radiology techniques for autonomous care during long-duration space missions. IRIS aims to prepare medical technologies for lunar missions, serving as test platforms for future interplanetary missions, including Mars. Importantly, these innovations are designed not only for space exploration but also for translation back to Earth, where they may benefit isolated territories and medically underserved regions requiring autonomous and minimally invasive care. Professor Vidal is an active member of major international societies, including the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE), and the European Society of Radiology (ESR). Through his clinical practice, research leadership, and institutional and international initiatives, he promotes a vision of interventional radiology that is innovative, structured, globally accessible, and future-oriented.