To the Editor,

I read with great interest the letter of Dr. Makris and Dr. Uberoi, and I thank them for their kind words. They eloquently state many of the challenges facing IR worldwide, as well as the solutions, many of which were highlighted in this year’s Dotter Lecture. Their call to action is as appropriate as it is timely. This type of discourse is precisely what I hoped to spark, namely a focus on moving forward rather than looking back. I agree that there are many opportunities for advancing what is now the specialty of IR, and we need to take advantage of all these. Makis and Uberoi have added to my list of action items political involvement, and I could not agree more. The efforts of the ACR, SIR, and CIRSE, in addition to other large societies such as the BSIR, JSIR, KSIR, SoBRice, and so many more, are absolutely critical to advancing our specialty. Every IR clinician should be involved with these either in the form of volunteer effort or at very least financial support through membership and donation. Without the efforts of organized Radiology, we would not be the clinical specialty we are today.

Makris and Uberoi also point out that independent IR training in the rest of the world is lagging behind the US; however the worldwide specialty of IR, with by definition a strong clinical focus, is well within reach, and I am confident the progress made in the US will be followed shortly by similar successes elsewhere. The spirit embodied in this letter, similar to that I hoped to engender in this year’s Dotter lecture, is what we need to make that happen.