In 2017, recognizing the positive impact Dr. Ferrara’s election would have on the specialty, the SIRPAC Board of Directors was proud to endorse him and voted to support his campaign.


Donations to SIRPAC by members like you help us support the campaigns of Dr. Ferrara, as well as SIR members Anne W. Giuliano, MD (who is running for Montana’s State House District 46), and Jeffrey A. Leef, MD (who ran for Illinois’ 7th


of diverse physicians doing team- based care while we work to solve our patients’ problems and overcome difficult challenges in innovative ways. That’s a powerful skill set to bring to Washington. When other members of Congress see it, I’m certain they’ll appreciate it and say, “He brings a great toolbox that will help us succeed in moving the ball down the field in innovative ways.”


Congressional District in


March 2018), and other candidates whose platforms and views are favorable to IR.


To support SIRPAC or read more about the society’s latest efforts on your behalf, visit sirweb.org/sirpac.


What aspect of the campaign trail has surprised you the most? I knew it would be an incredible amount of work, but I don’t think you can adequately anticipate or prepare for the type of work. It’s very different from what we’re used to—being a candidate offers vague measures of accomplishment. IRs focus on outcomes. We’re accustomed to making big differences in the lives of our patients daily, but the political process moves slowly and isn’t linear. It’s also harder to keep score during a campaign because


there are only two metrics: fundraising and votes. And of those two, only the second one matters. So it’s a bit of an adjustment to go into the murky world of politics from the results-oriented world of IR and the military but I don’t mind because I’m patient, work hard, stick to the plan, and I’ve never stopped believing that this is a necessary and noble cause.


If you advance in the August primaries and do get elected to Congress, what would be your top priority? I want to build a reputation for myself as the kind of a person who works hard to get to “yes”—after all, that’s who we are as interventionalists. We’re not the ones who invent reasons why we can’t do something. We’re the folks who say, “This is a really hard problem—let’s see how we can solve it.” I want to quickly establish myself as the hardest worker, a sharp policy expert and an honest broker.


IR perspectives By Raj Pyne, MD


In this new IRQ column, we ask IRs questions, thought-provoking and otherwise, and collect some of our favorite answers. Watch for more questions to be posted to SIR Connect!


At your high school reunion, how would you describe what you do as an IR to an old friend who has no medical background?


I use the phrase “plumber of human bodies” and clarify that I am referring to mostly blood vessels. Either opening up the pipe (to improve/increase the flow) or closing down/narrowing the pipe (to reduce flow), using various snake-like tools with different mechanisms at the end of it. —Meghal Antani, MD, MBA, FSIR


I am a plumber for human arteries, veins, kidneys and livers. —John Crocker, MD


IR is a field in which we use x-ray image guidance to perform minimally invasive procedures in all parts of the body through a pinhole incision. IR is revolutionary in a way as many of the


34 IRQ | SUMMER 2018


procedures we do were previously done only by open surgery. —Ripal Gandhi, MD, FSIR


Minimally invasive image-guided interventions or “have 018 will travel.” Typically, in real life when asked this question, I end up giving examples of types of procedures. —Saba Gilani, MD


Video games with high stakes! —Warren Krackov, MD


I say my work is like video games for grown-ups: I drive through and work on the arteries, veins, bile ducts and other plumbing of the body using tiny incisions and using imaging like live x-ray for guidance. —Barbara Nickel Hamilton, MD


“I am an interventional radiologist . . .” [reaction: eyes wide with confused


look] “ . . . so I use high-tech image- guidance to do minimally invasive surgeries and procedures, all through tiny incisions.” This elicits one of two responses: (1) “Wow. That’s sounds amazing.” or (2) “But I thought you said you were a radiologist.” —Raj Pyne, MD


At my last reunion, I actually said, I have the best job, being a video gamer all day and somehow sometimes helping people.


—Susan Shamimi-Noori, MD


I usually say I do minimally invasive surgery using image guidance—blank look—then I fix blood vessels and freeze and burn tumors etc.—blank look—I’m a human plumber— OOOOOOOhhh I see . . . —E. Brooke Spencer, MD, FSIR


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