The Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) is publishing a special collection of articles celebrating 10 years of interventional radiology as an American Board of Medical Specialties– (ABMS-) approved primary specialty and the subsequent advent of the IR Residency program in 2014.
The special collection, “Ten Years as a Primary Specialty: Impact on the Future of IR,” will be published as a special section of the December 2023 issue of JVIR and in a special online collection on jvir.org. IR Quarterly spoke with the guest editors, M. Victoria Marx, MD, FSIR, and John A. Kaufman, MD, MS, FSIR, about the anniversary, the JVIR content and what comes next for IR.
IRQ: This special issue celebrates the anniversary of IR gaining primary specialty status and the creation of the IR Residency. Tell us a little about your roles in those efforts, and why you were selected as the guest editors for this collection of articles.
M. Victoria Marx, MD, FSIR
John Kaufman, MD, FSIR
M. Victoria Marx, MD, FSIR, and John Kaufman, MD, FSIR: We were two of many people who laid the groundwork for acceptance of IR as a primary medical specialty by the American Board of Radiology (ABR), ABMS and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Kaufman’s primary role was his leadership in gaining approval for primary specialty status by the ABMS. Dr. Marx’s primary role was her leadership in gaining acceptance by the radiology graduate medical education community.
What would you say has been the greatest success or impact of the IR specialty and IR Residency?
Specialty status was based on the recognition that the three pillars of IR are expertise in medical imaging, image-guided procedural skills, and periprocedural decision-making and patient care. The greatest success has been the full integration of pre- and postprocedural clinical patient management into the formal graduate medical education of physicians’ preparation for ABR certification in interventional radiology/diagnostic radiology (IR/DR). The downstream impact will be that all physicians training alongside interventional radiologists now expect them to be active participants in all three aspects of patient care. A secondary measure of success is the enthusiasm that medical students have for this new medical specialty. The IR residency is one of the most competitive residencies in the yearly National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Match.
How will this special issue explore those achievements?
We have asked a broad selection of IR stakeholders and thought leaders to provide their insights on how the IR specialty status and residencies have impacted and/or are projected to impact their areas of expertise and interest.
What articles will it include?
Topics include the impact on medical students, independent practitioners, residencies, subspecialization, research initiatives and global recognition of IR. A particularly important contribution discusses the impact of primary specialty status on the relationship between SIR and the American College of Radiology.
How were the authors selected for these papers?
The invited authors are all thoughtful and knowledgeable IR physician leaders. They were chosen because they have insights and opinions that will resonate with members of the entire IR community.
The selected topics range across the breadth of IR, from how IR gained primary specialty designation, tracking the creation of the IR residencies and its current status, to the evolution of subspecialization and the impact of DEI on the future of IR. Among the authors are Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, FSIR, Jeanne M. LaBerge, MD, FSIR, Michael Dake, MD, FSIR, Michael Lee, MD, FSIR, Shellie Josephs, MD, FSIR, Saher Sabri, MD, FSIR, Hirschel McGinnis, MD, FSIR, and more.
Why did you feel it was important to include a commentary on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in this special issue?
When IR became a primary specialty and the training format changed from fellowships to residencies, the pool of applicants changed from about 1,000 diagnostic radiology residents to over 30,000 medical students. This presented an unparalleled opportunity to broaden the membership and to enhance the impact of IR. Developing an IR physician workforce to serve all of the demographic groups of the U.S. population is a major SIR growth initiative. A review of the data currently available for the specialty of IR provides an opportunity to assess our current status, and to inform future strategies for physician recruitment and retention.
