In August, SIR Foundation launcheda new IR Lunch & Learn initiative, inviting past grant recipients to come speak on their research, share their experiences with receiving a grant or award, and update the community on their current work.
The program started with Osman Ahmed, MD, who received the Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award in 2020 for his work on vena cava filters. The Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award promotes excellence in academic research for members early in their careers. This award honors the founding editor of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) and recognizes the importance of the young investigator in developing interventional solutions for the future.
Dr. Ahmed spoke with host Amanda Smolock, MD, PhD, on his research work, advancement opportunities and the importance of mentorship.
The following transcript has been summarized and edited for flow.
Amanda Smolock, MD, PhD: Can you provide an overview of your research and career, and how it led to applying for the Gary Becker Young Investigator award?
Osman Ahmed, MD: I did my fellowship at Stanford, and one of the best things to come of that experience was getting to train with incredible people who are considered thought leaders in the field of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and that really drove my enthusiasm and exposing me to different proceduresin the space. At the time, pulmonary embolism was an exciting and new field, as well as complex filter retrieval, and I was regularly exposed to emerging therapies and techniques.
From a clinical perspective, I wanted to build my career around VTE because of the fantastic training and knowledge base I had established. Combined with my interest and passion for academics and research, it seemed like a natural marriage to do research in the VTE field.
At the time, filters were in the national spotlight and utilization was being scrutinized from both a placement and removal standpoint. As a result, I put a lot of time and effort into studies related to that—both in analyzing large national databases and answering the question of “are all filters the same?” We know they aren’t, but I wanted to document how different a simple retrieval is from a complex one. That difference hadn’t been published on in terms of added time and complications, but they’re both reimbursed the same, so differentiating them and maybe even establishing them as a different procedure was something missing within the literature.
In terms of the Gary Becker Young Investigator award, you must publish within your first 5 years of practice to be eligible. Daniel Sze, MD, FSIR, emailed and reminded me it had been almost 5 years since leaving Stanford, and said that I should apply for the award soon if I wanted it. I had never thought of applying for it, but based on that encouragement, I built my application around the work I’d done in the VTE space. To my surprise, I actually got the award—which is incredible, because when you look at the list of past recipients, it’s people I consider mentors and giants of the field.
AS: It’s interesting that you’ve mentioned mentorship at several stages, from Dr. Sze encouraging you to apply to your teachers at Stanford. Can you speak to the impact that had on your career?
OA: I am incredibly fortunate to have mentorship, and a community of people who have done this before me and are invested in my growth and success. I’m fortunate to have been at Stanford and know the people I do.
One thing I tell trainees is that when they graduate and enter practice, they end up being a conglomerate of all the people who trained them. You pick up something from everyone who teaches you and it informs your practice. I’ve been lucky to work with people invested in research and mentorship. But they’ve also given me the sponsorship and courage to strive for things. For a guy like me, who isn’t always sure if I should apply for something or if I deserve it, it helps so much to have a vote of confidence and people telling me I do belong and do deserve. And now I want to pay that forward—and I love academics because I have the opportunity to do so.
AS: Can you talk a little bit about your experience with winning the Gary Becker award?
OA: Winning the award was a great motivation to keep going with my research, but also to try different things. I went out on a limb and had success and wanted to do it again. So I underwent the editorial fellowship with JVIR and did the RSNA Clinical Trials workshop.
Using these skills and motivation, I’ve since started a randomized controlled trial and am trying to get really focused in my research. I’ve started working toward larger trials and have established partnerships with industry. Recently, I was lucky to be asked to work with Phillips to get approval and clearance for one of their laser devices. It’s been amazing to see things we work with every day get FDA approval and then impact more patients.
AS: You mentioned the editorial fellowship and the clinical trials workshop, and I know you’ve done the SIR leadership academy as well. Can you speak to those experiences?
OA: These experiences are a great way to both develop new skills but also meet people like yourself. IR is such a small community—which is one of the reasons I love it—and these opportunities offer a great way to get to know each other better and meet people with the same niche interests.
The JVIR fellowship was amazing because it was very formalized, but also very intimate. There were only four of us, and I don’t know if other specialties have programs that intimate. We learned a huge amount in such a small amount of time, and getting involved in a new aspect of research and writing was amazing. The leadership academy not only gave us access to leaders but taught us how to advance and grow our careers while speaking with people who have already done it. It was a fantastic experience, and it’s very impressive to me that SIR has programs like this.
AS: Those who know you, know you’re very connected and known on social media. Can you speak to the value of utilizing social media as an IR?
OA: I sort of fell into social media, but I’m happy for it to be my thing. One of my partners lovingly jokes that I’m not really good at anything, I’m just good at promoting myself on social media—and there’s some small truth to that. Social media is a great way to let people know what you’re working on. I come across so many people doing incredible things, and I always tell them, you have to publish on that or put it on social media so people know! It’s truly a great way to establish yourself and share your cases and papers.
Historically, you would do something neat and publish and hope someone would find the paper you wrote and invite you to a filter talk. Now if you’re always talking about it on social media, people will go, “Oh yeah, he’s the filter guy” and reach out.
Social media has changed the way we consume information, even as physicians. We used to wait for JVIR to come in the mail, but now I follow the feed and read what my friends post.
AS: It’s interesting you mentionsocial media in relation to JVIR, as you’re one of the associate editors. Do you think social media has impacted the peer review process?
OA: Social media is fantastic, but it’s also a free for all. You can act like an authority on anything. I feel very, very strongly about peer review and vetting people’s work and opinions. That would sometimes run against my work as the journal’s social media editor—people would tweet cases and tag us, and I couldn’t retweet it from the official account because that case hadn’t been reviewed and vetted.
There’s definitely a need for both—the virtual angio club happening every day on social media, and peer review. IR is still a young specialty, and it’s become obvious that we need to advance the level of evidence we bring to the table. We want to do more procedures and therapies, but the path to that is research—and you need people willing to help validate that research with reviews and expertise.
I’d love to make a brief public plea for anyone interested in peer review to get involved in JVIR. We need a large pool of peer reviewers with varying expertise. So often, you’ll look for someone to review a certain subject and the same small pool of names get pulled every time. So please, get involved and join the JVIR peer reviewing group.
