At SIR 2023, Maureen P. Kohi, MD, FSIR, became the next SIR Foundation chair. SIR Today spoke with Dr. Kohi about her career, her vision for SIR Foundation and the impact of a self-sustaining fundraising model.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your career?
Maureen P. Kohi, MD, FSIR
Maureen P. Kohi, MD, FSIR: I was born and grew up in Iran, and moved to San Francisco at the age of 13 with my parents—not speaking a word of English! I am forever grateful for their sacrifice in order to provide me an opportunity for a better future.
I completed my undergraduate training at Stanford University and obtained my medical degree with honors from New York Medical College. I returned to San Francisco for my diagnostic radiology residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), during which time I completed a research year through the NIH/NIBIB T-32 training grant program. That research year solidified my desire to pursue a career in academic IR. I went on to complete my IR fellowship at UCSF followed by a second fellowship in Women’s Imaging, which comprised breast imaging and ultrasound. I was then recruited to stay on faculty at UCSF in the IR Division.
I was always passionate about the education and mentorship of our future generation, and I served as the associate program director for our IR residencies and fellowship. As a mid-level faculty, I become intrigued by hospital operations and really enjoyed cross-departmental and institutional collaborations. I was selected to serve as the division chief of IR at UCSF and served in that role for 3 years. I loved being an IR chief as I recruited numerous faculty who worked together to expand our clinical enterprise, build upon the strengths of our excellent educational program and grow our research footprint.
In December 2020, I was recruited to serve as the Ernest H. Wood Distinguished Professor and chair of the department of radiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am honored to serve in this incredible position, surrounded by talented physicians, scientists, trainees, and an amazing staff. We have a wonderful team and culture at UNC, and I am so proud to work alongside my Tar Heel colleagues, day in and day out.
What are your research passions?
MK: I am incredibly passionate about women’s health and interventions. As a physician-scientist, my research has focused on evaluating minimally invasive therapies to treat women with symptomatic uterine fibroids, optimizing the management of morbidly adherent placenta, and evaluating sex-based differences in the presentation and treatment outcomes of peripheral arterial disease.
I have been fortunate to lead clinical trials funded by the NIH and our corporate partners, and have witnessed the incredible power of clinical research and how it shapes the future of our clinical enterprise as we innovate and elevate our field of IR. I have also had the privilege of meeting brilliant physicians-scientists who have served as my mentors and friends, and have helped shape my academic career.
How does the work of SIR Foundation impact the IR community?
MK: At its core, SIR Foundation provides mechanisms for the specialty of IR to innovate and advance into the future. This is done through our development strategies, which target fundraising and our research and educational enterprises. Through our development arm, we obtain support from our members and corporate partners to enable our research and educational endeavors. In recent years, we have expanded our development structure and created additional exciting opportunities to fundraise such as the Gala and the Virtual Balloon Auction (VBA). In lock step, we have also expanded our research support for SIR members through our diverse grants program and the letter of intent (LOI) process.
In addition to fundraising and providing research support, the foundation identifies research priorities for our members and works collaboratively with other specialties to put together research consensus panels (RCPs) that dig deeper into those priorities to help pave the path for future innovation.
How do you envision that impact growing in the coming years?
MK: From its inception, the foundation has been a body that fosters support and funding of innovative research. My vision for the future is to transform the foundation to become the core of the research and innovation that drives the specialty forward.
We can strategically position the foundation to achieve that role by first increasing our efforts to educate the next generation IR physician scientists through our Summer Medical Internship Program, grant-writing course in collaboration with the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and the Grants for the Education of Medical Students (GEMS) program.
As the foundation secures its position at the nexus of IR innovation, it is also important to serve as a facilitator of research. If we train our physician scientist leaders through our education programs and go on to fund their research, we also need to be able to support early-stage clinical trials through patient recruitment, site selection, etc. To that end, we are thrilled to do so through the IR Clinical Trials Network (CTN), launched just last year, which aims to help our investigators identify appropriate sites to enlist for their clinical trials.
Furthermore, the foundation can also foster research support through close partnership and collaboration with our corporate partners who share our research priorities. Working alongside our industry leaders, the foundation can not only supply funding but also serve as a vessel to bring together investigators and corporate partners who share the same vision with respect to a clinical need that would benefit from a clinical trial.
In doing so, the foundation completes the circle from training future IR physician-scientists to ensuring the successful recruitment into and completion of those individuals’ clinical trials.
Can you describe your fundraising and development goals for the foundation?
MK: Philanthropy is integral to SIR Foundation—without fundraising, the foundation is unable to complete its mission as it applies to supporting research and education.
In recent years, our development portfolio has expanded to include fundraising opportunities beyond the Annual Fund, such as the Gala, Virtual Balloon Auction (VBA) and the newly formed Giving Circle for the Advancement of Women (GCAW). We are also very fortunate to have received a major gift from one of our members, John Lipman, MD, FSIR, to support research grants and a research consensus panel on uterine health.
Our ability to support the innovative research that will elevate our field is tied directly to our philanthropic support. Our members and corporate partners are at the core of this structure, and we intend to work with these individuals to continue to expand our development portfolio and secure additional major gifts for the foundation.
Last year SIR underwent a governance restructure, which placed a new emphasis on membership and Clinical Specialty Councils. How will this restructuring impact SIR Foundation?
MK: SIR Foundation will benefit greatly from the creation of the Clinical Specialty Councils (CSCs) as it applies to our research priorities, creation of research consensus panels (RCPs) and involvement in study section (grant review) participation. This model will help bring the Society and the foundation closer as we work in lockstep to determine the future research priorities for our field and define the mechanism for trials and potential funding. Overall, I am very excited to work with the CSC leadership.
What would you say to IRs who are still trying to decide whether to donate?
MK: For anyone who has never donated to the foundation, I would ask WHY??? I would encourage them to look at the latest and greatest technology they have in their lab and ask themselves, “How did this device get on my shelf?” I would urge them to ponder “What force was behind the creation of the guidelines I use for my practice?”
I would remind them that the research of today shapes the clinical future of tomorrow. That research requires funding and support which is dependent on our members and corporate partners. That support can manifest through the Annual Fund, a Gala ticket or Virtual Balloon purchase, or a major gift donation.
I cannot stress strongly enough how important funding is to IR research and the future of our specialty. Federal funding is becoming exceptionally challenging to secure and sustain in today’s financial landscape. Our corporate partners are also facing difficult financial times as more and more individuals seek industry dollars for their research support. As such, we must come together to strongly support SIR Foundation in order to enable the research that will shape the future of our specialty.
To donate to SIR Foundation, visit sirfoundation.org.
