the SIR 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting, the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) is launching the first year of a new yearlong editorial fellowship opportunity for residents. SIR Today recently talked with program founder JVIR Senior Deputy Editor Ron C. Gaba, MD, MS, FSIR, about the value of this kind of program for participants, the journal and the specialty itself.
Where do you practice, and what is your role on JVIR.
Ron C. Gaba, MD, MS, FSIR
Ron C. Gaba, MD, MS, FSIR: I'm an interventional radiologist and professor of radiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I've been practicing since 2008. I was fortunate enough to join the JVIR editorial board in 2016 at the invitation of then Editor-in-chief Ziv Haskal, and have served on the editorial board since that time, at various capacities, first as an associate editor and then as a deputy editor. Last year, current Editor-in-chief Dan Sze invited me to serve as senior deputy editor, in which I participate in more strategic discussions, and work with Dan to tackle big-picture issues facing the journal.
What inspired the idea of a yearlong program for residents? Had you seen this kind of offering elsewhere or participated in a similar fellowship that has informed your career?
RG: If you look through the landscape of academic and scientific journals, you’ll find a variety of short- and long-term opportunities for trainees to get involved. For the most part, those opportunities are set up to give a general sense of the world of scholarly publishing.
We wanted to offer more with the JVIR fellowship. By establishing a yearlong program, we aspire to provide a longitudinal experience that builds and grows over time—both within the fellowship year and from one year to the next. And now that IR is its own residency, trainees specialize in IR earlier and there is the opportunity to engage with and to groom residents over a longer period of time with more focus.
Tell us about the fellowship program itself—how it's structured, and what the residents who are participating can expect.
RG: The fellowship, which launched new for 2023, is designed to provide an immersive experience with the JVIR Editorial Board. We plan to incorporate a variety of educational opportunities for the participants, spanning from manuscript review with one-to-one mentorship from an Editorial Board member to attendance at regular journal leadership meetings, so they can get a “behind the scenes” view of how the journal is developed and the strategic issues and opportunities we consider. We’ll also include an online educational curriculum that will address their academic core competencies. The experience will culminate with a capstone project in which participants can engage in a JVIR priority area that interests them to help advance the journal and the field in general.
How were the participants selected?
RG: When the program and the competitive application process were announced, we weren’t sure what to expect—but were absolutely thrilled to see the immense amount of interest and engagement. The applications themselves and the caliber of applicants were incredibly impressive!
From this pool, we selected three applicants; we would love to have been able to accommodate all the worthy candidates into the fellowship, but we wanted to launch on a relatively smaller scale to ensure a personal and attentive experience for the participants. We also felt starting with a smaller program would foster the program’s success this year, and we certainly plan to grow as we go forward in future years.
That said, recognizing the strength of the other applicants, we encouraged them to apply again for next year’s program and, in the meantime, have invited them to participate in a separate team-based trainee reviewer program. We’ll start getting them involved when we return from Phoenix.
Why is it important to get IRs-in-training involved in what is arguably one of the society’s and specialty’s most impactful resources?
One thing to keep in mind is that these aren’t first-year trainees. At this point, they’ve selected interventional radiology for their career path and, in the years ahead, will hopefully get increasingly involved in research and scholarship. So this opportunity helps prepare them that much more for the path ahead.
We also have a responsibility to cultivate a pipeline of future leaders who will be able to continue the journal’s current trajectory and who will further its mission in future years. I think to a certain degree the trainee fellowship begins to address that.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I'm incredibly thankful for the support of JVIR Editor-in-chief Dan Sze for supporting the program and its launch, the Editorial Board members who have volunteered their precious time to mentor the participants—Pete Lokken, MD, MPH, FSIR, and Os Ahmed, MD—as well as Elsevier and SIR staff for their support in helping to make this possible. It's been a real team effort and we’re excited to get the program off the ground!
SIR gratefully acknowledges the following companies for providing a generous grant in support of the quality education delivered as part of this activity:
- Boston Scientific Corporation
- Guerbet
- Inari Medical
Sidebar: Congratulations to the inaugural class of JVIR editorial fellows!
Please join SIR and JVIR in congratulating our three first participants in the JVIR Editorial Fellowship for Residents:
Anna Sophia McKenney, MD, PhD, MPH
Xiao Wu, MD
