Alda L. Tam, MD, MBA, FSIR, FACR, is an interventional radiologist and president-elect of SIR. Dr. Tam attended medical school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, completed her residency at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, before completing an IR fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where she currently works.
Dr. Tam will become SIR president during the annual Members’ Business Meeting on Tuesday, March 7. SIR Today recently spoke with Dr. Tam to discuss her inspirations, goals and passion for IR.
Why did you choose interventional radiology?
Alda L. Tam, MD, MBA, FSIR, FACR
Alda L. Tam, MD, FSIR: In medical school, I made an effort to look at specialties that weren’t part of the traditional rotations. Someone recommended IR during my radiology rotation since I was thinking about taking a surgical path. I visited the IR suite and thought I could see myself there, so I pursued a residency at USC, where I met amazing mentors who were supportive and encouraging. Honestly, sometimes, it feels like maybe IR chose me.
What about interventional radiology gives you the greatest satisfaction?
AT: I feel that IR solutions are just so much more elegant than what other specialties are offering. The immediate satisfaction comes from planning and executing a difficult case or having to get innovative on the fly when you least expect it. Because the bulk of my practice is interventional oncology, the greatest satisfaction comes from seeing a patient back who reports that their pain got better or that they are here to see me again for treatment of a new oligometastatic focus having been disease free for a couple of years after their prior IR intervention.
How has the field changed since you first started?
AT: Since I graduated, I’ve watched IR constantly expand with new procedures. We’ve also made a stand and justified our role as a primary specialty, which has opened up new doors to recruit the best and the brightest directly from medical school. Right now is an exciting time for our specialty. SIR is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, our first classes of IR residents are graduating, and our specialty is growing and maturing at a rapid pace. In response, SIR and SIR Foundation are investing in tools, education, research and resources to ensure we continue this forward momentum.
What does SIR mean to you?
AT: SIR is important to me and I consider it my primary professional medical society affiliation. I’ve made countless friends from around the country and the world through SIR and also found a number of mentors outside of my home institution through the society, some of whom suggested I should expand my volunteer experience through pursuing leadership.
What initially inspired you to want to become part of the SIR leadership structure?
AT: Going to the SIR annual meeting as a trainee was always really fun and I felt included early on in my career. This eventually led to committee work like serving on the IR Quarterly Editorial Board and other volunteering opportunities. Eventually I participated in SIR’s Leadership Development Academy. As I gained more responsibilities, I applied for a leadership role within SIR and became the Guidelines and Statements Division counselor in 2017.
What do you think is the next opportunity and challenge for IR?
AT: The next opportunity is the need for us to cement our position within medical treatment algorithms across the disease states we serve. We need to do this through data and outcomes studies. This will be critical to our success of expanding patient access to interventional radiology care.
What are your goals for your presidency, and what will make your term successful?
AT: We are still in a time of transition—emergence from the pandemic, our governance restructure and an executive leadership change. So, developing a strategy for the next 5–10 years around demonstrating the value of IR and cementing our role in the medical care system will establish a solid foundation from which SIR and the SIR Foundation can continue to succeed and flourish. The “presidency” is a bit of a misnomer since it’s not a 1-year or one-person job. The Executive Committee, consisting of the secretary, president-elect, president, immediate past president and executive director, functions as a very cohesive team to provide continuity and consistency in driving forward initiatives for the society and specialty.
A lot of the recent initiatives have been focused on establishing the basis to allow us to compete as a primary medical specialty. One key example is the integration of the Clinical Specialty Councils into the governance structure, which allows for the voices of our key opinion leaders in each of the clinical areas IR supports (e.g., interventional oncology, peripheral arterial disease, pediatrics, etc.) to be heard and to participate in strategic decision-making.
Another key focus area has been on the SIR Data Registry, VIRTEX, to allow us to collect data for benchmarking and outcome measures. We are also committed to listening to the feedback from our members and have a number of website and UI/UX interface improvements coming up in the next year. In my presidential year, we will continue to push initiatives and take on projects that will align SIR, and by extension our members, with the needs of IR for the future.
What are your passions outside of IR?
AT: I like spending time with my family and two dogs. We like to visit and hike the national parks and travelling in general. I recently took up running and completed my first half-marathon. Sadly, my exploration of reformer Pilates is not going as well. Lastly, I also really like to read, particularly Scandinavian and Japanese murder mysteries, as well as science fiction.
