President’s column By Matthew S. Johnson, MD, FSIR A culture of research
When it comes to proving the value of IR, it is truly a group effort. Interventional radiology is a specialty for everyone, no matter their identity or practice model or path into it.
T
hroughout the next year of my presidency, there are three themes you’ll hear me speak about regularly: the
importance of research, the value of IR, and increasing diversity and inclusion in the specialty.
These aren’t three disparate topics. They’re all entwined and advancing one will further the others. Diversity of thought and membership, along with focusing on health disparities, will create new questions and minds for research. That data will help demonstrate the value of IR to administrators and other stakeholders, thus allowing the specialty to grow and become more visible, which will open new opportunities to the field. We cannot focus on one area and forget the others, because they are all crucial to the future of IR.
It’s no secret that I have a love for research. Since my pre-med days, I’ve engaged in animal and human trials and investigated the data and science of what we do. I try to transfer this love and excitement to the next generation of IRs through my residents and other trainees, to get in at the ground floor of education and imprint a rigorous, scientific method and research-oriented practice into everything they do. It’s not just about teaching the methods: It’s about creating a research-appreciative culture for the future of IR.
Research is how IR will prove what we believe to be true—that we offer safe, effective, cost-saving therapies that should be a key part of the treatment pipeline. Research allows us to push boundaries and explore new paths to create better care for our
patients. Research is how we push the needle forward.
But research is also daunting. While I would love every IR to design trials and run data, it’s just not realistic. Many of our members are in practices in which pressing needs and daily concerns prevent them from participating in trials or compiling retrospective studies.
This is why registries like VIRTEX can change the face of IR. It lets anyone contribute data as part of daily clinical practice. It helps us create standards and determine benchmarks of success. It helps show value to our institutions. This pool of data indicates that you are part of a larger collective. It allows physicians from across the country to compare outcomes of procedures. It has endless possibilities, such as being used as a research resource in the future or incorporating universal device identifiers to follow new technologies.
VIRTEX allows all IRs to participate in a scientific culture without the expense and difficulty of creating trials. It’s cheap, easy and standardized and is a great entry to research. When you contribute to VIRTEX, you create data that you can be proud of which will be used to better patient care and serve the specialty.
When it comes to proving the value of IR, it is truly a group effort. Interventional radiology is a specialty for everyone, no matter their identity or practice model or path into it. My goal is to help improve the everyday existence of all SIR members, and I believe that improving and enabling better access to research is a steppingstone to that goal.
6 IRQ | SPRING 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
