Leading edge
An interview with Theresa M. Caridi, MD, FSIR
T
heresa M. Caridi, MD, FSIR, is stepping down from her role as SIR Foundation chair in order to pursue a career with industry.
Dr. Caridi is the latest in an increasing number of IRs who have made this transition. IR Quarterly spoke with Dr. Caridi about her career, research and opportunities for the future of IR.
Can you tell us about your career and what drew you to transition to industry? Theresa M. Caridi, MD, FSIR: I have worked with industry both personally and through organizations like SIR Foundation. I have had some great opportunities in my personal roles to do consultantships, resident symposiums and lectures along with an industry partner. Some of my most rewarding opportunities have been working on longstanding projects from start to finish, serving as a physician advisor on a new device. Sometimes these projects last several years, starting from concept all the way to design and animal lab testing, and ultimately doing cases when the product is on the market. I’ve loved working with the engineers and pushing new things forward that we need in IR, but also considering the effects on patients and cost.
From a professional standpoint, involvement with organizations like SIR Foundation has allowed me to build relationships from a research perspective. I’ve always enjoyed quarterbacking research, so now there’s an opportunity to do that, have resources available and be able to spearhead where those resources go. Those two things—the longer-term projects and having the resources to
education: developing programmatic opportunities for residents, working with their education team and potentially educating their medical sales team as the physician who uses the devices and understands the medical and hands-on components. I’m excited to pursue this new role, while continuing my clinical practice 1–2 days a week. I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to do both because my first love is patient care and patient advocacy. This role will provide me with a bigger set of resources to promote and drive the future of that.
Theresa M. Caridi, MD, FSIR
“Involvement with organizations like SIR Foundation has allowed me to build relationships from a research perspective.”
quarterback research—drew me to transition to industry.
Can you tell us about your new position? TC: I will be a medical director for Varian, a Siemens Healthineers Company. I anticipate working alongside their clinical team to help decide what clinical trials to sponsor, whether internally or externally through investigator-initiated studies. Part of my role will be in
What drew you to Varian? TC: I admire Varian for including the patient and physician perspectives. They bring in individuals who understand the use of these devices and medical advancements in the patient setting and see how it affects them.
I also admire Varian’s patient advocacy. They have an office in D.C. and have worked on Capitol Hill to advance opportunities for IR. They have gone after codes for additional payment for IR physicians who are doing work that isn’t reimbursable or is getting passed down to patients. I also think they’re staying true to themselves in the cancer space. They’re building the right devices that will be helpful in IR, looking at the long gain rather than the short gain of buying a device, marketing and selling it.
What areas of IR do you think need to be better explored? TC: All areas. When you look at IR as a whole, our specialty is not organ- specific or disease-specific—we impact such a large part of the human body, physiology and disease processes. Because of that, in the foundation
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