IR & basic science?

[macbergleton]

I'm a MD-PhD student now about half way through my 3rd year clerkships. I find myself very attracted to IR as a medical field, but also hope to run a basic science laboratory. I don't know of any IR docs that also run labs, so I don't have a feeling for how "do-able" this really is. Typically, for that to work, you need ~75-80% protected time for research. That's why you see so few surgeons with labs - you can't maintain your skills only doing surgery 20% of the time.

Is IR like surgery in that it requires constant practice to maintain competency? Or is it more similar to medical/peds specialties or anesthesiology, in which one can maintain their clinical acumen despite a limited practice? Does anyone know of any IR physician-scientists I could contact to vet this option?

Many thanks!

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[shark2000]

A lot of DRs are running a lab. IR, not at all. The same is going for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Generally speaking, people who go into procedural fields will be much less likely to do administrative or even heavy research work.
By doing only one day of surgery or procedure you can easily maintain your skills. But usually the mindset of procedural specialists are not evidenced based. They just cut it and move to the next one.
Talking to surgical fields attendings, you will find out that their way of thinking is not evidence or research based. Most of their conferences are around personal experiences. And this is the nature of their specialties. Even their text-books are much less evidence base.

 

[Gvataken]

There is some great basic science research being done by many IRs in various departments. There are a growing number of MD/PHds in IR. Georgetown has a number of IR doing some great research, Karun Sharma MD/PHd and Dr. Banovac MD/Phd. Dr. Spies is the chairman at Georgetown and he is heavily evidence based and was a big proponent of the fibroid registry etc.

Also there is some great basic science research being done by the Northwestern IR group with Dr. Reed Omary as well as some of the scientists there.

There will be some special sessions at the SIR meeting in San Francisco and it would be a great venue for a medical student to learn more about the role of IR in research and basic science work.

Having 80% protected time can be a challenge since most practicing IR I know are in the IR suites at least a couple days a week and those that participate in IR clinic have at least a 1/2 day a week in the office.

Hope that helps

 

[davidjones]

There is an attending at my place that does primarily research with stem cells, as well as clinical research. Lots of basic science to do in IR and certainly lots of clinical research. You might want to check out the NIH center for interventional oncology and Dr. Brad Wood. Some of the cancer centers like MD Anderson and MSKCC have two year interventional onc fellowships and would probably be over the moon if there was an attending who wanted to be primarily a researcher. Certainly there is a lot of room within IR for basic science and development of evidence based guidelines. If I was a PD at a big academic place I would count your desire for research as a huge plus .

 

[macbergleton]

Thanks for the info and names. I'll look into it. Nice to hear that IR is still a possibility.

 

[shark2000]

A lot of medical doctors who enter research, can not keep up with the pressure of clinical work. Research is a way to escape from their mistakes in choosing medicine as a career. Obviously it is not the case for many. The same is for VAs and Academic centers. A lot of even big names can not keep up with the volume and pressure of private practice (I am not talking about radiology, I am talking about the whole medicine).

 

[Dr. USMLE]

A lot of DRs are running a lab. IR, not at all. The same is going for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Generally speaking, people who go into procedural fields will be much less likely to do administrative or even heavy research work.

Do you think that doing procedural/device research is possible as an IR? I do see affiliations with drug/device companies on financial disclosures of IRs, but I do not hear about such collaborations often.

 

[radical1]

I know OHSU also has an IR lab, the Dotter Institute:

http://www.ohsu.edu/dotter/second_decade.htm