Stuart G. Silverman, M.D., FACR, FSAR, FSABI

Dr. Silverman is Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Chief Emeritus of Abdominal Imaging and Intervention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), where he has practiced for more than 37 years. He earned an A.B. from Oberlin College and an M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Board-certified in internal medicine and radiology, he completed his radiology residency and abdominal imaging and intervention fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital before joining BWH.

Dr. Silverman’s research centers on interventional radiology, uroradiology, and the overlap between the two. In the early 1990s, he helped design the world’s first open-configuration interventional MRI system and performed BWH’s first MRI-guided interventional radiology procedure. He was an early pioneer of percutaneous MRI-guided tumor ablation, primarily using cryoablation, building on Brigham laboratory research showing that MRI could monitor tissue temperature. He also was an early adopter of real-time interventional CT, or CT fluoroscopy, to guide tumor biopsies and other procedures.

In uroradiology, Dr. Silverman has used advanced imaging to improve the diagnosis and management of urinary tract disorders. In the 1990s, he demonstrated the value of volumetric CT with slip-ring technology for evaluating renal masses. Around the turn of the century, he was among the first to use multidetector CT to evaluate the kidneys, urinary collecting system and bladder, an approach now known as CT urography, that replaced intravenous pyelography after more than 70 years as the standard urinary tract imaging examination. Since the early 2000s, he has applied interventional MRI to kidney cancer cryoablation and promoted an expanded use of percutaneous renal mass biopsy to help avoid unnecessary, costly, and potentially harmful surgeries and tumor ablations for benign conditions that mimic cancer. In 2008, he clarified the role of the Bosniak Classification for cystic renal masses; in 2015, he advocated conservative management for incompletely characterized renal masses likely to be benign; and in 2019, he helped revise the Bosniak Classification, now used worldwide, to improve specificity for kidney cancer diagnosis and reduce overdiagnosis. He is currently helping develop, implement, and evaluate the American College of Radiology–approved Kidney Imaging Reporting and Data System (KI-RADS), which aims to reduce overtreatment of cystic and solid kidney masses by shifting imaging’s primary goal from detecting every cancer to identifying cancers likely to cause harm or shorten health span. He has authored more than 380 publications on these topics, including more than 280 original peer-reviewed articles, more than 100 reviews and book chapters, and two coedited textbooks on tumor ablation and CT urography.

In addition to serving as Chief of the Abdominal Division, Dr. Silverman directed CT scanning at BWH and founded Brigham’s Cross-Sectional Interventional Radiology (CSIR) service, which uses CT, ultrasound, MRI, and PET to guide interventional radiology procedures. He also founded the Brigham’s Tumor Ablation Program and established a research biopsy program that has supported hundreds of treatment trials at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and BWH.

Dr. Silverman is widely recognized for his commitment to teaching and mentoring students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty. He has received two BWH radiology resident teaching awards, directed postgraduate courses in CT, MRI, uroradiology, interventional radiology, and tumor ablation, and delivered more than 500 lectures worldwide.

Dr. Silverman is a Fellow of the American College of Radiology, the Society of Abdominal Radiology, and the Society of Advanced Body Imaging. He is a past president of the New England Roentgen Ray Society and served as the inaugural president of the Society of Abdominal Radiology, which later awarded him its Gold Medal.