Can you tell us a little about your training and professional background?
Nadine Abi-Jaoudeh, MD, FSIR
Nadine Abi-Jaoudeh, MD, FSIR: I’m an interventional radiologist at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). I actually started my training in Canada where I did my internship and radiology residency. Then I finished my IR fellowship at University of Virginia. I worked at the National Institutes of Health for 7 years in the Center for Interventional Oncology and then moved to UCI about 7 years ago. I really love everything about IR but my focus is oncology. But there really aren’t many procedures in IR that I don’t like.
What drives or motivates you as an interventional radiologist?
NA: I think it’s the desire to really make a difference and make things better. It’s easy to criticize something and say “I would do that differently.” But rather than say that, I like helping to make a better process. So I’m driven by trying to make a difference and trying to make things better so that the next generation has an easier path to follow and can make an even bigger difference in healthcare than we already do. I feel very lucky to call myself an IR. I think it’s one of the best specialties in medicine. I want to ensure that the specialty flourishes, and if I can do anything to help that, then I will.
Looking back at the tremendous success of the SIR 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting back in June, what, to you, were the biggest highlights?
NA: We had a great program and it was wonderful seeing the excitement and the energy from everybody, which was a real highlight for me. The best part was having everybody back together and talking about the science in person—that was really, really great.
Do you have any takeaways or lessons learned?
NA: Absolutely. When we began planning in 2021, we had no idea what the situation would be. We planned for some redundant programming, so if restrictions meant we had to keep it to 10 people per room, we could still accommodate a lot of people. As a result, the 2022 meeting ended up being a little bit more spread out, with some repeated sessions so that if you missed the first one, you could make it to the second.
I think we learned that it’s better to have less repetition in favor of a greater breadth of content. And one thing we’ve adopted is having themes, sessions that follow each other so that if one person comes in from oncology, you can have an oncology program each day, like daily tracks for clinical pathways. But it’s a new program every day.
What are you most excited about seeing at SIR 2023?
NA: There is a lot of new scientific content that I’m really very interested in seeing, and I’m looking forward to some really exciting plenary sessions as well.
It’s hard to pinpoint one thing, but there is always a lot of new content introduced, which is something that’s very valuable with the SIR annual meeting. After all, it’s the scientific meeting of the society. There are so many meetings out there where the content might not be new, but the value is in networking there. At the SIR annual meeting, there’s always networking opportunities, but it’s the amount of great scientific content that makes the SIR meeting incredible.
Have you spent much time in Phoenix over the years?
NA: I have since I moved out west. I think early March is the perfect time. Anybody who’s in a cold area, you’re going to love it. When I used to live in Montreal, the worst time was the end of February, early March, because you just want winter to end. But Phoenix is like a beautiful break. I wouldn’t recommend going in July, but March is perfect. And where the Convention Center is, and especially, for example, where they’re holding the Gala, it is gorgeous. It’s picture perfect. You feel like you’ve stepped into a postcard.
As chair of the SIR Foundation Clinical Research and Registries Division and a deputy editor of JVIR, you’ll continue leadership roles once you rotate off the Annual Meeting Committee. Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re going to be involved with?
NA: I’m really excited to focus on my role as chair of the Clinical Trials and Registries Committee, as well as working more with Grants and Education. We’re getting more and more letters of intent (LOIs) following our research consensus panels (RCPs). Working on the RCPs to determine research priorities and having people submit LOIs for grants is really very exciting, because it’s like shaping the future data that we get into IR, which is really important to maintain our specialty. I’ll be working to make that program stronger and more robust, and I’m excited to be able to give that a lot more of my attention.
What’s the one thing an IR should know or keep in mind if they’re undecided about whether to register for the annual meeting?
NA: No matter what you’re looking to get, you will get it at SIR 2023. So if you’re looking for new science, you’re going to have that. If you’re looking for networking, it’s one of the biggest networking opportunities. If you’re looking for new equipment, almost all industry will be there. So regardless of what you hope to get out of a meeting, this is the one meeting that will probably have it all.
