The Legends: an Interview with Dr. Thomas Sos

The episode starts with an introduction to Dr. Sos, whose accomplishments include serving as SIR President from 1986-1987, receiving the SIR Gold Medalist in 2009, authoring 140 publications and 60+ book chapters, as well as winning the SIR Foundations in Leadership and Innovation award this past year.

Dr. Sos reflects on his educational journey, starting with his medical degree from Harvard and continuing with diagnostic radiology residency and an IR fellowship at Cornell. As one of Cornell's first IR fellows, he discusses the intensity of his early training and his reasons for choosing this specialty. His fellowship years coincided with the formation of SIR and the rapid evolution of the field, offering him a chance to be part of its groundbreaking developments. He then traces his professional path, highlighting his work at Cornell and Brigham, his role as the youngest IR progressor at Cornell, and his position as the Divisional Chief of Cardiovascular IR.

An important turning point in his career was a coronary angioplasty course in Zurich, Switzerland, which led to his collaboration with cardiothoracic surgeons and cardiologists. He remains an active participant in major conferences to share knowledge about angioplasty.

Then, Dr. Sos discusses his shifting focus to peripheral vascular disease. As his work in IR began to draw attention, surgeons started acknowledging the growing influence of IR in medicine. This realization resulted in more surgeons learning about angioplasty and a collaboration between SIR and the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS).