Reed A. Omary, MD, MS, FSIR
Reed Omary, MD, MS, FSIR, is the Carol D. and Henry P. Pendergrass Professor and chair of the department of radiology and radiological sciences at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Omary’s research has focused on novel strategies to enhance and tailor interventional oncology therapies including imaging guidance, imaging biomarkers for treatment efficacy, nanoparticle design, nanoparticle delivery and ablation techniques. His group recently published a paper in ACS Nano (Mouli SK, Tyler P, McDevitt JL et al. “Image-guided Local Delivery Strategies Enhance Therapeutic Nanoparticle Uptake in Solid Tumors.” ACS Nano 2013; 7(9):7724-7733) representing the combined four-year collaborative efforts of trainees at various levels including several SIR Foundation grant award winners. In addition to the grant support from the Foundation, grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center have supported Dr. Omary’s nanomedicine research.
COLLINS: Congratulations on your recent publication in ACS Nano. Can you summarize the purpose and results of your study for our readers?
OMARY: We wanted to target a nanomedicine journal to take techniques that interventional radiologists know are beneficial and bring them to a community that doesn’t think in terms of image-guided delivery. In so doing, we wished to ultimately expand the impact of interventional radiology to colleagues outside of our daily sphere of practice.
COLLINS: What are the potential next steps or barriers that need to be overcome to translate your nanomedicine research into an in-human clinical trial?
OMARY: We showed the benefits of doing local delivery of therapeutic nanoparticles. That aspect is applicable to any nano platform. I think the next step is to apply our approaches to the pipeline of nanotherapies that are being considered or undergoing clinical trials now. A barrier, fundamentally, is that we have to show the safety and efficacy as we would with any new drug. Practically speaking, if we classify a novel therapeutic as a drug there is a large U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) barrier. If, on the other hand, we can propose a new therapeutic as a medical device, there is a smaller FDA barrier. So, as IRs look to translate their discoveries, we will have an easier regulatory approval process for medical devices than for drugs.
COLLINS: It is impossible to undertake such a large research project without a highly skilled research team. I understand that collaborations between multiple SIR Foundation award winners* were critical to the success of this project. Can you comment on the influence of the SIR Foundation grant program awards to enable you to build such a stellar research team?
OMARY: The SIR Foundation grant program had a profound influence. It allowed my research partner Andrew Larson, PhD, and me to recruit enthusiastic trainees to perform research in interventional radiology when they were still impressionable. These grant programs will help IR develop a pipeline of future leaders in our dynamic specialty.
COLLINS: How has the research experience gained by SIR Foundation grant awardees and other trainees in the conduct of this project prepared them for careers in IR research?
OMARY: It has helped dispel the myth that IR does not have a culture of research and innovation. If you are a medical student and would like to join a cardiology or neurology research lab, there are innumerable such labs. Some trainees might think nothing similar exists for them regarding IR research, which is simply not the case.
COLLINS: You have been an SIR Foundation Grants Review Committee member for many years and have seen past awardees embark on successful academic careers. Can you comment on how important the SIR Foundation grant program is to SIR’s mission? Specifically, has the Foundation succeeded in developing a cadre of clinicians and scientists to advance the field of interventional radiology through research?
OMARY: In the past, the process was developed internally through SIR Foundation. We have tried to modify this process to follow review mechanisms in place at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Research and Education Foundation. This modeling helps SIR Foundation applicants start to think about submitting their science in a way that would be reviewed in the future by larger funding agencies.
Our impact has been considerable, as we have significantly expanded the number of interventional radiologists who have extramural funding both at the Society level (American Cancer Society and RSNA) and at the federal level. There are a number of successful previous Foundation award recipients who have gone on to receive NIH funding, which is the ultimate goal of the SIR Foundation grants program.
COLLINS: What unique opportunities do the SIR Foundation grant awards provide for interventional radiology research investigators that are not available through other funding sources?
OMARY: One grant mechanism that is unique to SIR Foundation is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Medical Research Fellows program grant. SIR Foundation partnered with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to fund medical students conducting preclinical research in IR. As part of this award, students have the opportunity to engage in a dedicated year of research within the highly renowned HHMI research program.
The other student and resident grant awards offered by the SIR Foundation are complementary to the RSNA programs, yet focused towards IR research questions. The SIR Foundation grant opportunities parallel offerings from RSNA; however we shouldn’t view that negatively. We want to model ourselves after other successful radiology-focused funding opportunities. SIR Foundation and other Society program grants are necessary because the barriers to radiologists to obtain funding for NIH training programs are quite steep.
COLLINS: Much of the time, excellent research ideas are spawned out of clinical practice. Was there an initial IR experience that directed you towards nanomedicine (or other) research?
OMARY: The research originated at the interface between the clinical problem of monitoring drug delivery with the research problem of increasing drug uptake. We combined interventional radiology with nanomedicine to develop a new therapeutic approach. The ability to integrate advanced image monitoring techniques such as MRI into our clinical practice naturally filled an unmet need in nanomedicine.
COLLINS: Balancing research and clinical practice is challenging, yet critical to a successful academic career in interventional radiology. How have you balanced clinical practice and research?
OMARY: It is important for us as faculty members to avoid an existential crisis. I say this nearly every week to our faculty and trainees. We have to define who we are. What is our purpose? Why are we here? And what are we trying to accomplish?
As an example, early on in my own career, I wanted to lead an NIH-funded research program that developed techniques in an animal lab and applied them to benefit patients.
COLLINS: What advice do you have for residents and fellows considering an academic research career in interventional radiology?
OMARY: Find a mentor or, better yet, group of mentors. Ultimately you will become the sum of your mentors.
COLLINS: I know you are an avid literary enthusiast. Do you have a recent find that you would like to share with our readers?
OMARY: I decided to read Moby Dick because whales were my five-year-old son’s favorite animal. This is the first novel that I have read on the iPad. Through hyperlinks, it’s easy to learn about unfamiliar historical figures, terminology and geography. So instead of simply reading a novel, I am taking a course on whales, maritime history, poetry, leadership and religion. Melville is a master—it is fun to read him at my own pace. Plus, unlike thousands of frustrated college students who are force-fed the novel, I don’t have to write a paper.
