Why should medical students choose radiology? In their inaugural episode of the "Keeping Up With the Radiologists" podcast series brought to you by AuntMinnie.com in collaboration with Penn Radiology, Saurabh (Harry) Jha, MD, and Mitch Schnall, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania speak with medical student Michael Duong, PhD, about his choice, and also discuss current trends and issues affecting the practice of radiology.
Jha offers insights cropped out of his early experiences in Britain and Australia, immersion in U.S. healthcare, and his interest in the economics and value of diagnostic imaging and decision modeling. Meanwhile, co-host Schnall, chair of the department of radiology and Eugene P. Pendergrass Professor of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, weighs in on important issues such as the "what if" questions facing radiology, including the role of AI as a savior for radiologists, not a threat.
Among his credits, Schnall has led multiple efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of cancer screenings and fundamental changes in imaging approaches to breast and prostate cancer. He has also been a leader in the implementation of advanced practice providers (APPs) in radiology.
“The tools that allow radiologists to virtually be present are going to be very important,” Schnall explains in this episode. Who could disagree? However, the radiologist has also become “a more powerful voice” in the decision-making process of what happens to patients -- and for a number of reasons, as you'll learn in the podcast.
If there’s a downside to going into radiology, this episode takes us there -- but not all at once. Why do people think radiology is particularly vulnerable? On the flipside, why is radiology particularly resistant? Wise words of experience from Jha, Schnall, and Duong will be useful for both long-time radiologists and those entering the field.
Impressions from this episode:
{02:13:23} Fear of radiology jobs being lost to AI
{02:57:19} What is your take on AI?
{07:53:16} Patient-facing components, resistance to AI
{11:14:05} AI can help me manage …
{12:04:09} A lot of people go into radiology for different reasons
{12:58:07} Protocoling
{14:10:12} Quantification
{14:45:16} What if you instantly took away ...
{15:06:12} Subspecialty chest radiologists
{15:56:07} Right size our specialties
{16:12:09} Radiologists embedded in clinical decision-making at outpatient clinics
{16:55:19} Tension between radiologists, particularly in academia
{19:09:09} Advanced practice providers (APPs)
{20:24:00} Domain integrator
{23:41:18} Rummaging through medical records
{26:28:05} Integration as a whole for multiple studies
{29:46:14} Shifting risk onto the provider
{31:00:14} Radiology as a consultant service
{32:28:03} Careful what you disclose to patients, patient interaction with the radiologist
{40:06:17} Expansion of physician assistants and nonphysicians
{44:09:18} Future of radiology, whether it’s sustainable, viable
{49:40:05} Trends, cautions
{54:41:08} At what point did you want to do radiology and when did you feel that your expectations were fulfilled?
Mentions:
Saurabh (Harry) Jha
Mitchell Schnall
Michael Duong
Geoffrey Hinton
Ezekiel Emanuel
Danny Hughes
Harvey L. Nieman Health Policy Institute
Featured:
Saurabh (Harry) Jha, MBBS, is an associate professor of radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Jha obtained a master’s degree in health policy research from the Leonard Davis Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his medical degree from the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s, King’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals. Jha developed Value of Imaging, a set of radiology educational resources.
Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, is a physician at Penn Medicine in its abdominal imaging services program. Chair of the department of radiology and the Eugene P. Pendergrass Professor of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, Schnall has served as the group co-chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group since its founding in 2012. He is an international leader in translational biomedical and imaging research, working throughout his career across the interface between basic imaging science and clinical medicine to ensure effective integration of radiology research with other medical disciplines.
Michael Duong, PhD, is a medical scientist in training in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his PhD in bioengineering in 2022.
This episode of Keeping Up With the Radiologists is brought to you by AuntMinnie.com in collaboration with Penn Radiology. It's also available on Spotify. Check back for new episodes!
