2023

2023 was an awesome year for me. Let me share a few reasons why- I hope some of them might resonate with you.

I took 8.5 months off after leaving USC at the end of December 2022. From January 1 to August 14, I was unemployed. I was, in effect, taking a self-imposed sabbatical that I’ve mentioned in earlier posts. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on this time, I think I better understand the transformative power of “unstructured” time. There is something incredibly empowering to live by your own schedule: eat when you’re hungry (not when the rep brings pizza), sleep when you’re tired (even if it’s the middle of the day), and choose what activities you wish to participate in (or avoid). Being on a beach vacation for a couple weeks is not an adequate comparison; that’s like comparing reading a great novel and reading the Cliff Notes version of the same novel.

There are few academic institutions that allow clinical faculty like me to take a lengthy sabbatical. Yet the sabbatical remains a cornerstone of non-clinical faculty (like English or History professors). Obviously, the loss of a clinical faculty member for six months or a year represents the loss of revenue and that is to be avoided at all costs. For many universities with medical schools and hospitals, the revenue generated by the clinical faculty can cover substantial parts of the university’s operating budget. Having clinical faculty not contributing to this revenue, while they explore disparate topics or research during a sabbatical, does not make fiscal sense to the university.

Amazingly, I was talking to Rusty Hofmann about my “sabbatical” and he told me that Stanford continues to grant its clinical faculty (like him), one month of sabbatical time for every year of service. For all the good-natured shit talking that goes on amongst my friends in IR about the superiority of their respective institution, I tip my hat to the Stanford Tree (even if it is a ridiculous and stupid mascot). I’d be willing to bet that Stanford faculty are happier and more accomplished (Rusty being a great example) outside of their job descriptions because of their sabbatical policy. Sabbaticals should be mandatory for all clinical faculty everywhere- we should all get at least six months every 8-10 years. 

Other than having the time to think (at my pace) about whatever I felt like, perhaps the greatest luxury of my sabbatical was retesting the hypothesis that I derive joy and satisfaction from taking care of patients. For 27 years, it was a foregone conclusion. But the last three years shook my faith; I didn’t practice much at USC and it didn’t feel like a phantom limb- I didn’t really notice that my “limb” was gone. I had to wonder whether my desire had evaporated.

Going to Tanzania in January 2023 was an important first step in understanding where my head was. It was the most consecutive clinical time I had spent in IR since March 2020. I had to redevelop some muscle memory quickly (and in a very foreign country and clinical setting). It was an awesome experience and I’m grateful to the IR program at Muhimbili University for giving me the chance to find my desire. I definitely got more out of my time there than the trainees got out of me, I’m sorry to say. 

Now that I'm back working in a full time clinical role, I couldn't be happier. I am so happy taking care of patients again, and trying to share what I know with our trainees and my partners. And I have so much to learn from them! These are exciting times for me and I'm so happy to be a part of CU again. There's no place else I'd rather be- I'm incredibly grateful.

2023 was also the year I finally decided that I’m an IR. That may sound puzzling coming from someone who has practiced nothing but full time IR since 1996. But becoming a chair of a department of radiology forced me to become an agnostic- I had to take my IR hat off, so to speak, and put on a DR hat. I admire how Alan Matsumoto, Matt Mauro, Jim Spies, and other have done that so successfully while maintaining their IR cred. All I know now is that I’m an IR from here on out and I want to see our specialty grow and thrive. To do that, IR needs to move away from DR. I’ll do everything I can, for the rest of the time I’ve got left in the game, to make that happen.