Inspirations, favorite quotes and more about speakers at SIR 2023—from well-known luminaries to first-time presenters! Click the names to find each one in the SIR 2023 program.
Amy Deipolyi, MD, FSIR
Why did you choose IR?
I loved the hands-on work, which took me out of the reading room and to the patient bedside. I loved the way so much of the procedures involve out-of-the-box problem solving, and coming up with solutions when the exact device or procedure did not exist already to solve the clinical issue. I loved the way interventional radiologists interacted with all the different specialties in the hospital, as a central point for patient care.
How do you explain your work to non-IRs?
People are almost always familiar with coronary stenting for heart attacks. I explain that I do similar work, except instead of working in the arteries of the heart, I work in other organs like the liver and lungs. I explain that my work ranges from very basic procedures like ultrasound- or CT-guided biopsy, up to more complex procedures where I actually deliver local tumor therapies in such a way that most patients don't need to be hospitalized after the treatments.
What would you say drives your work or inspires you?
I am inspired by the impact on patients. Even something as simple as a biopsy has a huge impact on patients—as a window to other therapies. I am inspired by the times I can give patients hope—like offering treatment for chronic pelvic pain to a woman who has been suffering for years, or locoregional therapy to a patient who is not a surgical candidate. I am inspired when a minimally invasive therapy saves a patient's life—like when I stop a life-threatening hemorrhage or drain a life-threatening infection.
What is your favorite or most meaningful memory/experience as an IR?
When I was a medical student rotating in the ICU at UCSF, my patient with cirrhosis started bleeding profusely and needed an emergency TIPS. He was so sick that he was literally bleeding out of every IV access and out of his eyes. I remember suctioning him on the way down to IR. Dr Kerlan, who was on that day, performed the TIPS creation, with a wall of blood products at his side. He asked my attending to "borrow" the medical student (me) for the case and had me scrub in instead of the scrub tech. I remember struggling with the long wires, and not having any idea what I was looking at on the monitors. I remember how the patient made a miraculous recovery after TIPS creation. He was extubated overnight and by the next morning was shaving his scruff in the ICU. I remember wanting to take the razor away after having suctioned all his bleeding the prior day. It was a really remarkable case, and was my first direct experience with the power of interventional radiology.
What is your favorite quote?
"AlI you need is some brutane." —Dr. T. Gregory Walker, vascular interventional radiology program director at MGH, describing the occasional case that requires some brute force.
Brian Funaki, MD, FSIR
Why did you choose IR?
I discovered IR during radiology residency. I enjoyed the combination of imaging and procedural care and taking care of patients.
How do you explain your work to non-IRs?
I am a very expensive and very experienced body plumber.
What would you say drives your work or inspires you?
I get to do a job that helps people every day and saves people's lives very commonly. If that doesn't equate to job satisfaction, nothing much will.
What is your favorite or most meaningful memory/experience as an IR?
I had a young mother of three who had an unexpected placental abruption on table in IR with massive hemorrhage. Pretty much anywhere else, she would have bled to death but we were prepared and equipped to save her and did. She went home the very next day.
What is your favorite quote?
Illegitimi non carborundum.
Erika J. Ugianskis, MD
Why did you choose IR?
I realized in medical school at Northwestern way back in the '90's that I really enjoyed being physically engaged in my work. After I recognized that and thought I would become a general surgeon, a chief resident in surgery I was doing a research project with told me to explore interventional radiology, as she said to me that if she were to do it all over again, she'd probably pursue IR. So I did an IR elective with Bob Vogelzang and Al Nemcek. I thought they were the coolest. I was sold! To this day 22 years later, I still love it!
How do you explain your work to non-IRs?
I'm a specialist. I perform minimally invasive procedures using the tools in radiology to navigate my way.
What would you say drives your work or inspires you?
Being a source of help and healing for people who are sick and scared.
What is your favorite or most meaningful memory/experience as an IR?
I saved a young mother's life after she gave birth to her son. She was bleeding profusely post-partum and I embolized her uterine arteries in the middle of the night. She asked me afterwards if she would have died had we been back in the days of the Wild West out on the prairie, and I told her yes. She was extremely grateful for the care I gave her and even sent me a card when her son turned 1. I still have that card.
What is your favorite quote?
"Work now, play later." I used to say this to motivate myself to get through all the years of education and training. Nothing fancy and to the point.
Clifford R. Weiss, MD, FSIR
Why did you choose IR?
As a medical student I knew a few things about what I loved to do. I loved taking care of patients, loved technology, loved advanced imaging, loved working with my hands to fix problems, and loved the challenge of answering questions that had not yet been asked. When I walked into my first IR suite in 1997 I knew I had found my home. I could be someone’s doctor, help them in ways no one else could, and I could do it all with the newest technology around and with the best people in medicine.
How do you explain your work to non-IRs?
To a patient or a nonmedical person: “We do procedures using imaging to guide me, through tiny holes in the skin that are no bigger than a pencil tip. We use needles, and sometimes small tubes the size of a piece of spaghetti, to get anywhere in the body and deliver treatment. Sometimes we take tiny samples (biopsy), while other times we open or close blood vessels, or treat tumors. Sometimes we drain out infections or pull out clots. All without cutting the skin.”
What would you say drives your work or inspires you?
Helping people every day. Helping through clinical care. Helping through teaching (patients, referring physicians and trainees). Helping through research. It is both a thrill and a massive responsibility to be the last line of defense for many patients.
What is your favorite or most meaningful memory/experience as an IR?
Yesterday ... tomorrow.
What is your favorite quote (if you have one)?
IR related: “IRs are like surgeons… but magic.”
Non IR related: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”― Fred Rogers
