Good News: The IR World Is Flat

By Susan E. Sedory Holzer, MA, CAE
SIR Executive Director

News—especially good news—travels fast. The recent ABMS decision to approve the American Board of Radiology’s application for a new Dual Primary Certificate in Interventional Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology—was the talk of the CIRSE meeting in Lisbon. Attendees congratulated me and SIR members in attendance about this significant turning point for IR. I traveled to Portugal, the nation that launched the global age of discovery, and found our news to be as relevant and exciting there as it was at home. The dual certificate approval generated deep curiosity and recognition across the global IR community.

The historical parallels got me thinking. Just as Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world ushered in a century of global exploration and discovery, what future will be made by the increasingly global specialty of IR? In his popular book The World Is Flat, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman details how the processes of discovery, research, design, development and marketing are globally networked. No single nation or group possesses all of the creative knowledge to succeed independently. 

Medical discovery and advances originate all over the world. And our global IR community is just the kind of mutually reinforcing network that supports Friedman’s “world is flat” vision. The opportunity to easily cross oceans, devices, protocols, treatments, disease states, practice environments and cultures and debate new ideas and medical advances enables all to stay on the cutting edge of medical developments and improve care to patients. 

Congratulations to CIRSE President Michael J. Lee and other leaders for providing an exceptional educational program. With representatives from more than 80 countries, CIRSE’s successful meeting benefits the global IR specialty. 

Having returned home, I found your leaders, staff and volunteers busily preparing for SIR 2013. The theme of our AnnualScientific Meeting this year is “IR Reaching Out,” providing another dynamic opportunity to collectively learn from the broadest possible range of international and domestic attendees. And we are so excited to be returning to New Orleans, Louisiana, a city that has proudly recovered from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by holding onto its cultural economy and universal charm. Laissez les bons temp rouler in Crescent City—and sample its unique culture in a selection of videos.

In other developments, SIR’s new International Task Force is working to positively “flatten the world of IR” by reaching out to colleagues outside the United States through new programs and a new quarterly International Leadership Update e-newsletter. We are excited to offer for its second year our International Scholarship Program, which will foster (and fund) professional networking at SIR 2013, together with focused programming and possible visiting observerships, as a way to build key relationships with future international IR leaders and strengthen the developing international IR movement. SIR will also collaborate and participate in upcoming international IR meetings of the Chinese Society of Interventional Radiology (CSIR) and the Indian Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (ISVIR). Looking far ahead, SIR has already begun working with the Canadian Interventional Radiology Association (CIRA) leaders for SIR 2016, which will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Just as the news of the U.S. IR/DR primary certificate advances the specialty globally, I am reminded that our name, “Society of Interventional Radiology,” was never intended to be bound by geographical divisions—and neither are the advances that we can dream and accomplish together. Let’s keep flattening the world of IR learning. Registration is open for SIR 2013; we look forward to meeting you in a few months!

Question

Tell SIR: What do you look forward to doing at SIR2013, the Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting?