Anne-Christine Januel named new ESMINT president

Interventional neuroradiologist Anne-Christine Januel (Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France) has been elected as the new president of the European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT).

The recent ESMINT congress (4–6 September 2024, Marseille, France) saw Januel succeed Zsolt Kulcsár (University Hospital of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland) as the organisation’s president. Notable achievements from Kulcsár’s time as president include ESMINT signing separate agreements with the Finnish Society of NeuroInterventionalists (FSNI), the German Society of Neuroradiology (DGNR), and the French Society of Neuroradiology (SFNR).

“I am deeply honoured to serve as the new president of ESMINT—a society dedicated to advancing neurointerventional care across Europe and beyond,” Januel told NeuroNews. “Building on the excellent foundations laid by my predecessors, particularly Dr Kulcsár, we will continue to focus on education and research, building networks and strengthening our outreach to improve patient outcomes.

“In addition, I intend to promote diversity within our society, ensuring that neurointerventional care benefits from the strength of varied perspectives and inclusive collaboration. I am incredibly proud to be part of this historic moment for women in neurointerventions, as we work together to shape the future of our field.”

Other significant changes on the ESMINT executive board include the appointments of Christian Taschner (University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany) as general secretary and Luca Valvassori (San Carlo Borromeo Hospital, Milan, Italy) as treasurer.

In a social media post during the 2024 ESMINT meeting, the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) acknowledged that Januel is part of a group of female physicians who are currently “making history”. For the first time, the post adds, four major neurointerventional professional organisations are now being led by a woman. In addition to ESMINT, the SNIS recently elected Johanna T Fifi (Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA) as president; Thanh N Nguyen (Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, USA) is currently serving as the first ever female president of the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN); and Stavropoula Tjoumakaris (Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA) is presently chair of the joint Cerebrovascular Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS).

The recent ESMINT meeting also saw 2024 congress presidents Alessandra Biondi (Besançon University Hospital, Besançon, France) and Elisa Ciceri (IRCCS Foundation ‘Carlo Besta’ Neurological Institute, Milan, Italy) hand over the reins to two new ESMINT congress presidents for the coming year: Ivan Vukasinovic (University Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia) and Kamil Zeleňák (Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia).

In a presentation on the Tuesday evening of this year’s ESMINT congress, Biondi and Ciceri highlighted the successes of the meeting, reporting that 1,245 participants were in attendance at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille.

The dates and setting for next year’s ESMINT congress have already been announced too, with the 2025 iteration of the meeting set to return to Marseille and take place from 3–5 September.