The SIO's Resident Medical Student Section Launch

An Interview With Erica Alexander, MD

This podcast episode is part of the SIO Corner, a collaboration between IO Learning and the Society of Interventional Oncology.  Today’s podcast features Dr Elena Violari, Interventional Radiologist and member of the SIO’s Publications Committee, and her guest, Dr. Erica Alexander, an attending Interventional Radiologist at the world-renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, active member of the Society of Interventional Oncology, and vice-chair of the membership committee. They will discuss the launching of the SIO resident medical student section, a new opportunity developed by SIO for medical students to connect and collaborate.

This episode is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
 

Dr Elena Violari: Okay. All right, Erica, welcome and thank you for joining us today.

Dr Erica Alexander: I'm happy to be here and happy to be invited to be a part of this.

Dr Elena Violari: All right. How about you start with you telling us a few words about your IR training and the current state of your practice.

Dr Erica Alexander: Sure. I did a surgery intern year at the University of Pennsylvania, and that's also where I ended up doing my radiology residency. And I was at the point where they started to do the IR independent fellowship. I did my mini fellowship at Penn, and then I did my one-year fellowship at Northwestern, or I guess it's the IR residency now.

And I am now in my second year of being an attending Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. And I focus in thoracic malignancies, in endocrine malignancies here.

Dr Elena Violari: That's excellent. And how long have you been in the role of Vice Chair of Membership Committee with SIO and what are some of the main goals of this committee?

Dr Erica Alexander: I came into the role of the SIORMS chair and vice chair of membership in summer of 2022. One of my mentors, Michael Sulin who's a big part of the SIO committee and one of the founding members at this point actually asked me if I would want to be a part of it because I was very involved in the Society of Interventional Radiology Medical Student section back when I was a trainee, and also was involved in the resident and fellow section there.

And one of CIO's main goals was to promote medical student and resident involvement in the society. And it started off as an idea back in the summer of 2022. And now we have a leadership group, we have two medical students and two residents. We have Amanda Laguna from Brown, we have Hailey Leopold who was at Sinai as a medical student and will be starting at Penn. And we have Julia [inaudible 00:05:21] who's a resident at Penn who I've known for a very long time, even when she was a medical student. And have Nick Chao who's over in Northwestern who's a resident there. So we have a really phenomenal group of young trainees who are part of this.

And to answer your second question about our goals of the committee, we're really trying to grow this in a very intentional way so we can have this be a long-term sustainable part of SIO. Our goals for our first inaugural year we're relatively modest. One was to create a webinar series and educational series for trainees, and that's the SIO talk of the season.

And we had our first event last month where Dr. Ed Kim from Mount Sinai gave an introduction to IO talk that was very well attended. And then the other goal of our committee was to have a larger involvement in the IO essentials curriculum that SIO has already implemented for many years, but figure out ways that we can be more inclusive of junior trainees as well. And I think that we're well on track for that. We have a very, very motivated group of leaders, and we also have managed to increase membership numbers quite a bit now for medical students and residents within the society. It seems like there's quite a lot of interest in this new initiative of greater training involvement.

Dr Elena Violari: That's wonderful, sounds like a great team. And sounds like I'm happy to hear that the webinar went very well as well. And so tell us a little bit what are some of the initiatives of the resident medical student section?

Dr Erica Alexander: The goals of the program are to increase membership and representation within the society. We want this to be a society that caters towards people at all stages of their IO and IR interests. Starting from early medical students to people who are finishing up their fellowship, we want to create educational resources for them and opportunities for leadership and advice, and that's very much what the SIO talk of the season is attempting to accomplish there.

We also want to find ways for residents to have mentorship opportunities within the society. One of the new initiatives we're talking about is even creating a weekend symposium where trainees can attend and have exposure to various devices and treatments. And there seems to be a lot of interest based on both SIO and also industry. And we certainly have a lot of trainee interest in that.

There's a lot of areas for us for growth, whether it's creating a summer internship program, whether it's creating a weekend course where trainees can learn more about IO therapies, creating an educational series. And we're really trying to work within the other committees within SIO as well so we can have medical students work with more senior docs and have that exposure and have that mentorship opportunity as well.

Dr Elena Violari: All this sounds great. Those are all excellent opportunities and very exciting. How do you plan to promote it?

Dr Erica Alexander: Currently we've been using the SIO letters that are sent out, the web letters. We have an amazing liaison from SIO Olivia Gunn who's been instrumental in that and really has helped advocate for us. Yeah, she's been great. She's a great resource for us and a great advocate. We have a presence on the webpage, so I encourage people to check that out. There's a way that you can reach out through SIO and if you're interested in becoming more involved, we encourage you to sign up. Medical students and trainees should sign up as SIO members. That's the first way to be involved. Any opportunities will be advertised through the newsletter.

We've also because we have such a young cohort of trainees, Hailey has really tapped into social media to help increase our presence. She helped tweet our first lecture, which actually got tweeted by another society and really helped with turnout and registration. We're really promoting it through the existing channels like our website, the newsletter, but also reaching out to social media as well. We reached out when we started the RMSS to various interest groups across the country as well, and also program directors by just cold emailing people. Because I think at this stage we're so early that it has to be a little bit of a grassroots movement. There isn't an established structure email list serve that we have. We're really starting from the ground up and hoping to build this.

Dr Elena Violari: All those are fantastic ways to help promote it. How can interested trainees become more involved? Is there a application form? Or how can they get involved with it?

Dr Erica Alexander: There's a couple of ways. As I mentioned earlier, I think the best thing any trainee can do is sign up to be a member of SIO because that will give you emails and up-to-date information about any activities, symposiums, opportunities for members to get more involved. I know this past spring they had their call for new members and applications and there were several medical students that applied through that. I also think that people are welcome to reach out to me by email. You're welcome to share my email at the end or when this is sent out. But I'm happy for people who are interested to contact me directly and we'll find ways for people to become involved.

Our goal for 2024 is to really expand upon the subcommittees and to be able to recruit more trainees. I think as we figure out what resources we have and different avenues that have been successful in this first year and the interests that trainees have looking for their opportunities for us to grow the RMSS further. But I encourage people also, if there's a SIO attending committee, so to speak, that they're interested in, I think that there's a lot of room for trainees to be involved outside of the RMSS within the institute... within the society as well, rather.

Dr Elena Violari: That's wonderful. For those trainees who are involved, are there any opportunities, I think you mentioned it briefly earlier, opportunities for scholarships or to attend the SIO annual meeting?

Dr Erica Alexander: Yeah. This is actually not something that I can take any credit for as the RMSS chair, but SIO has the Iowa Essentials Program which I actually attended many years as a resident. And it's phenomenal. It provides a pretty significant amount of funding for trainees to attend the national meeting. And then there's a two-day dedicated lecture series there as part of the annual meeting where it's very unique to people at earlier stages of training and how to attempt to practice building and how to engage in tumor boards.

It's incredibly educational. They have a great series of lectures there that attend. They're really leaders in the field of IO. And I think it's so encouraging that even the people who are leading the way for IO therapies are excited and willing to talk to people at all stages. And I really encourage people to apply for that. There's many, many scholarships. I know that there's a push to get more funding for this year to year.

And again, our goal is to help cure the IO essentials curriculum to be something that can engage people at all stages of their training. But really this is something that has long been underway. I know that Isabelle [inaudible 00:12:06] ran the curriculum last year and did an exceptional job.

Dr Elena Violari: I also attended the meeting as an SIO scholar as a first year radiology resident. It was a great experience, great learning opportunity. What advice would you provide for junior trainees as they look to become more involved in IR and be more competitive applicants?

Dr Erica Alexander: I think that there's a couple of things. I think as a medical student, you really have to be someone who is taking your academic curriculum really seriously. You have to be a good student. It's a competitive specialty. And I think it's also important that you learn as much as you can in these early years. It's really the foundation for the rest of your career. I think in addition to being a good student, you want to be someone who is involved in both the Society of Interventional Oncology and also the Society of Interventional Radiology... I think being a member, finding ways to be involved in leadership activities on a national level, but also on a local level.

If your school does not have an interventional radiology or an interventional oncology interest group, you should try to implement that. Find ways to get interested students and interested faculty to help implement that so people can be exposed at an earlier level.

I also think that medical students should, if they have the means to reach out to IRs in their community and IOs in their community get involved in research, I think it's a really phenomenal way to get excited about the field, to see what's being done within IO and IR. I also think it's a great way to establish mentorship and someone who will be a good advocate for you. And going to these national meetings with abstracts and presentations is a really wonderful way to see what IO and IR is all about.

I remember as a trainee and I went to my first RSNA and SIR when I was 20 years old. And I remember sitting there and just being in utter awe of the field and the specialty. And I think it's important to be excited about that. I would encourage trainees to do that, write abstracts, write publications, be a good student, take every opportunity to learn. And I think at the resident level, it's really, again, trying to get the most of your training. I remember at Penn, our program director used to say that it's like drinking from a fire hydrant. There's so much information and I think that there's so much to learn and you want to grasp as much of it as you can.

For me, as a medical student and as a resident, the research that I did and the mentorship I established was in incredible. And I think you realize that these mentors follow you throughout your entire career. I think a big part of why I was given the opportunity and thought of for the resident medical student section was that my mentor, Michael Sulin at Penn, knew that I had this interest in training education and to this day as someone who is a great advocate for me. I think that finding someone that you can look up to you, someone who's going to look out for you and someone who you can do research with is really important.

And I think that as a resident and a fellow, I think it's important to have a big picture idea of how you want your career to play out. And that's not to say that there isn't deviation from that along the way. You may decide that the academic career isn't for you. But I think it's helpful early on to have your vision of how you see yourself in five or 10 years and it gives you something to work towards. I think that if you want to be at an academic center doing high-end research and treating patients and focusing on a very specific subset, there's several institutions in the country where you can accomplish that. But it's helpful to have built a foundation where people see that you have that experience beforehand.

Dr Elena Violari: That's all great advice. And thank you so much for sharing your experiences. It's all fantastic advice for all the medical students and early residents out there. Will there be any opportunities for our international medical students interested in interventional oncology to apply for membership and scholarships?

Dr Erica Alexander: that already exists. SIO is an incredibly diverse international organization. I think at the meeting you see people from all over the world, quite literally. And in spite of it being a relatively small society, I think that there's actually a very good degree of diversity in different countries that are represented. I know that there are international trainees that are involved, certainly international residents and medical students are encouraged to apply and be a part of it.

I believe that the IO essential scholarship is applicable for international trainees actually think that there's a graded scholarship depending on your proximity to the meeting location. But I know that that information is available on the website, so I'd encourage people to look out for that.

Dr Elena Violari: That's excellent. Erica, you briefly mentioned it, but looking back to your journey as a medical student and resident and fellow, was there an experience that made you want to engage with helping and educating and supporting medical students and residents interested in interventional oncology? What made you want to give back?

Dr Erica Alexander: Yeah. I think for me it was largely based on the fact that I had phenomenal mentors. And I think that that was really inspiring and really helped me get to where I am today. When I first emailed Damian Dupree who was at Brown at the time and is now at Cape Cod Regional Hospital, I was 19 years old. I needed to do a research project for my Bachelor of Science. And I had no idea the world that would unfold for me here. And I would shadow him in the IR suite. I would write papers and go to conferences. And it was a really inspiring opportunity.

And I think he was very encouraging and someone who really looked out for me as a mentor then, and even now. And then [inaudible 00:17:59] was the and I believe still is actually the fellowship director at Brown. And Dr. Dupree recommended that I reach out to Dr. On because Dr. Dupree was very focused on ablation and body procedures, and he thought I should see the breadth of VIR and Dr. On is the person who got me involved in SIR. And then when I went to Penn, Dr. [inaudible 00:18:22] really took me under his wings and mentored me. And I had tremendous opportunity, again to do research and to have someone who would be an advocate for me.

And I think what I realized along the way is that at every step I've had one or two people that have really looked out for me and really helped me have opportunities and helped me get excited about IR. And they're people who are incredible clinicians and incredible people and incredible mentors. And I think when I have that experience and when I look back at why I'm where I am today living this dream of working at Sloan Kettering and treating cancer patients, it's entirely attributable to these people.

I personally think that mentorship is the most important thing that brought me to where I am. And I feel this at times probably subliminal need to do that in my own path. I feel very fortunate as a really junior attending, I had a medical student reach out to me. I signed up to be an SA or mentor a very long time ago even when I was a resident. And a lot of medical students reach out to me. But Gavin Juan, who is my current med medical student mentee, reached out to me about doing research.

And there was a part of me that was like, "I don't know if I'm ready to do this," but I tried to channel the mentors I've had before me, someone who I meet with him frequently, we talk about his goals, we make sure that he has the resources and the help to do the projects that he's interested in. And I think that these experiences that I've had with phenomenal mentors is what really drove me to want to be a good mentor to people, both on an individual level with people like Gavin but also on a larger scale with residents and trainees.

And I really think that this is the message: go forth and be good to other people and to mentor other people. And I can't say that I'm always perfect at that, but I think that this is such a niche specialty even to this day. I think that there's a lot more attention placed upon it. But I think to get people excited and to get people that are talented early in their career, excited, it's really important to be a good mentor and to reach out... and when people ask to talk to you about the specialty or ask if there's ways to get involved to give them good viable answers that they can go forward with.

Dr Elena Violari: Yeah. This is excellent and thank you for sharing your journey. And I agree with you. I think mentorship is the most important, and we're all grateful for all the wonderful mentors who are on our paths. And you are totally right that without these connections…these are the most important ways that you can move forward and accomplish your goals by having these meaningful mentorship connections. What are your hopes for the future or the evolution of the SIORMS?

Dr Erica Alexander: My hope is that this becomes a standalone committee. I think that one day we'll be big enough that we're not just a subcommittee under membership even though it's a happy home right now. And I think that we're given a lot of opportunities. But I want this to be something where we have a tremendous number of people that are a part of this, where we have our own leadership tracks within SIO, where we're have our own curriculum and a large presence at the national meeting, and also the ability to have our own standalone, couple times a year symposium where people can come and learn.

I think that it's exciting that there's so much potential here and there's such a focus on the actual society to promote trainee education. I think it's an exciting time to be in this position because I feel like the ceiling is incredibly high in terms of opportunities. And I know that industry has really created an increased focus on investing in trainee education early on which I think is incredibly important.

I see us being a standalone committee with hundreds of members which I think is a very reasonable goal. I see us as having a really wonderful educational curriculum and to develop other opportunities for people to get excited whether it's summer mentorship programs where we collaborate with some of the leaders of IO and hopefully get more and more people excited about the specialty early on.

Dr Elena Violari: That's wonderful. Erica, this has been a great discussion, very, very exciting developments. And we are all very, very happy to see this get off the ground. And I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot from all the excellent medical students and residents who will be involved. And thanks again for your time and for giving us all the information for all the residents medical students out there who will be hopefully involved with the SIORMS.

Dr Erica Alexander: Thank you so much.