Early Career Section (ECS) During the last quarter the ECS has prioritized spreading awareness of the ABR exam changes by updating the membership through email alerts and webinar panels. See all ECS Educational content at
gotostage.com/channel/sirecs. The ECS is currently collaborating with the Women in IR Section to create a network for women who are in the early stages of their career and supporting projects for the new ECS Women in IR workgroup.
We would like to give a special shout-out to our 2021 ECS Section Annual Meeting speakers, Anne Covey, MD, FSIR, Srinivas Tummala, MD, Aravind Arepally, MD, FSIR, David Sperling, MD, FSIR, Maureen Kohi, MD, FSIR, Janice Newsome, MD, FSIR, Drew M. Caplin, MD, FSIR, and Eric Depopas.
Members who are in the early stages of their career are encouraged to join the ECS Section. Interested members can do so here.
makes it clear that this isn’t just a medicine problem—it’s a moral issue of figuring out how everyone gets an equal chance to live. The URM Section offers an opportunity to introduce this question and engage IRs in finding the answer.
Other areas of focus will likely arise. URMs are diverse, which means that there are a lot of people with different views and experiences, so while we’re all following the same moral compass, different members will be passionate about different parts of our mission. So we’re encouraging members to get involved and help us identify what interests them and help us fold those interests into our mission.
What does ideal representation look like? Not many URMs hold significant leadership roles in SIR—something we want to change. We want to be careful that we don’t push for URM- specific roles, like vice chair of diversity. Too often, in the pursuit of diversity, institutions will create a box to check, where any URM can be exchanged for another. Taking on a D&I-specific role in addition to other leadership roles becomes a burden. URMS are more than their background, and we can speak on so many things that aren’t related to diversity. We can bring talent and drive to any position.
Women in IR Section (WIR) Women in IR presented a full day of programming at SIR 2021, including sessions entitled “The IR gender gap,” “Navigating your career” and “Covid-19 in IR.” Several new volunteers have joined the WIR governing council for 2021–2022, and the group is looking forward to continuing initiatives such as the newsletter and webinars, as well as adding new resources, under the leadership of chair Nishita Kothary, MD, FSIR.
Find more information about recent SIR Section programming at SIR 2021 via the Digital Video Library.
30 IRQ | SPRING 2021
Obviously, we want to have leaders who can speak for and about URM issues, but we want it to go further. We want to support and elevate URMs to work within the structure at all levels. I’d love to see a URM as president of SIR.
What does early membership look like? We’re still pushing for members, and recruitment is a slow build. People will want to see what we are and what our mission is. It will also take time for individuals who may have felt like SIR doesn’t represent them to see us and our impact.
That said, I’m very pleased with the membership we have so far. A number of residents and early career IRs have joined, which has painted a picture for me of the kind of change that’s already happening.
But for me, diversity in healthcare is of the utmost importance. Not just increasing the number of URM physicians, but also looking at our patient populations and shifting into a truly clinical role where we don’t just treat the dialysis or fibroids or prostate cancer but become advocates for the communities impacted by them and help prevent the disease.
It’s demonstrated that there is a real desire and hunger within the specialty for equity. And many of these members are deeply involved across the society, which is even better, because it means that our members can communicate with each other and represent our mission across the specialty.
Are there landmarks or thresholds of success for the URM Section? There will certainly be points where we can say that we’ve had a win and we’ve reached a new milestone. I’m not the owner of the URM Section, and my goals may be different from what will ultimately become most important to this section. But for me, diversity in healthcare is of the utmost importance. Not just increasing the number of URM physicians, but also looking at our patient populations and shifting into a truly clinical role where we don’t just treat the dialysis or fibroids or prostate cancer but become advocates for the communities impacted by them and help prevent the disease. The closer we get to this goal, and anything that the URM Section can do to aid it, will be a success in my eyes.
Members interested in joining the URM Section can find more information at
bit.ly/SIR-URM.
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