In Training

IR interest groups (IRIGs)

Interventional radiology interest groups are student organizations at medical institutions that aim to expose trainees to IR early and regularly through shadowing opportunities, workshops (ultrasound, procedures), and talks with faculty/residents.

Current IR interest groups

U.S. northeast

U.S. southeast

U.S. central

U.S. west

International

  • University of Debrecen Faculty of Medicine, Hungary

Frequently asked questions

How do I establish an interventional radiology interest group (IRIG) at my school?

  • Perform a faculty search and get in touch with interventional radiologists at your home program. If there is a dedicated medical student coordinator for IR or radiology, this is an excellent primary point of contact and will often put you in contact with faculty that will be motivated to assist you. Let them know what you are interested in doing to help increase exposure to IR for medical students.

  • Even if the faculty does not have time to give talks, they can put you in touch with residents and fellows who are willing and capable to give talks to interested medical students.

  • Student affairs could also be helpful in guiding you to set up an interest group, and often will have resources or funding to assist in the process. If your school is small or you do not have a radiology/IR residency, ask student affairs which physicians have served as specialty-specific mentors for past students. Those physicians are usually willing to oversee the interest group.

There’s already a diagnostic radiology (DR) interest group at my school. How does this affect an IR interest group?

Your relationship with radiology should be collaborative, not confrontational. Diagnostic radiology is a major component of interventional radiology training. Learning about DR is important for students to make an informed decision during career selection.

  • Identify your own IRIG-specific faculty advisor—even if the radiology group has an advisor who is an interventional radiologist

  • Share resources and knowledge. However, each organization typically has its own officers to avoid conflicts of interest

  • Meet with the radiology department educational leadership to ensure they are aware of two distinct interest groups*

  • Introduce the IR interest group early to students so they understand the distinction between interventional and diagnostic radiology

  • Consider hosting joint meetings with a variety of related interest groups, especially surgical and procedural specialties like general or vascular surgery, OB/Gyn, emergency medicine, gastroenterology, etc.

*Some schools are unwilling to support both a radiology interest group and an IR interest group at the same time. In these cases, it may be helpful to use the diagnostic radiology interest group as a means to become more IR-oriented. For example, if a group hosts 10 lunchtime radiology interest group lectures, but only one of the lectures was about IR, consider lobbying for additional IR lectures from that 10.

How can I fund an IR interest group?

Schools vary widely in how interest groups are funded. Even if your school provides some financial assistance to interest groups, you may still need additional funding. Here are solutions that have worked for existing IR interest groups:

  • Most radiology departments have funds set aside so that students can have food during lectures. They may also have miscellaneous funds that can be made available if a valid proposal is provided.

  • Find out if the dean’s office provide funds for student groups

  • Find out if different levels of your student government are able to fund certain events

  • Partner with other interest groups to hold joint meetings on mutual topics (e.g., uterine fibroid embolization with women’s health or OB/Gyn groups). This is also helpful if your school does not support both IR and radiology interest group, because combining both could mean that the funds are shared.

  • Hold meetings at your school’s simulation center to make the event hands-on and less food-oriented. This keeps students engaged and costs low.

  • Ask your interest group mentor if they can gather expired equipment from the hospital if the equipment is not available at the simulation center, and offer to store those supplies for use in future events.

  • Consider meeting between classes, on the weekend, or in the early evening, instead of at lunch so that food is less expected.

  • Attach your meeting onto resident events where resources may already be provided

  • Approach other departments or the hospital to see if they’re willing to fund a meeting with IR-relevance (e.g., patient safety, emergency medicine, surgery, OB/Gyn, internal medicine, pediatrics, diabetes awareness, women’s health)

  • Work with faculty to integrate IR into the MS1–MS4 curriculum instead of relying on extracurricular meetings. Helping with the setup legwork (finding the curriculum point of contact, exploring IR-relevant topics) can increase faculty willingness to participate and will help build a relationship with the faculty member.

  • Some student groups have also explored sponsorships by medical device companies involved with IR (such as Cook, Gore, Argon, etc). Many companies maintain a fund for educational events and may have models and supplies on hand. Confer with your IR faculty about this.

How do I advertise to recruit individuals to an IRIG?

  • Use email lists, social media groups (such as Facebook, Groups.io or Google Groups), and instant‑messaging platforms like Discord or WhatsApp, to support communication and engagement among students across all training levels. Share information on international symposiums, research opportunities, local events and useful resources through these channels.

  • Make in-person announcements the day of the event during class or before a school lecture.

  • Many medical schools have clubs or career fairs for junior medical students. Setting up an IR interest group booth is a great way to recruit students.

  • Post about your interest group on the SIR Connect Resident, Fellow and Student (RFS) community page. SIR has over 3,000 medical student members who all have access to this community, which also includes almost 1,000 resident members.

  • Make the announcement generalized and relatable to other fields. For example, many IR talks can be relevant for those interested in vascular surgery, diagnostic radiology or general surgery. Even non-procedural specialties can benefit from imaging knowledge and basic procedural techniques. Finding common ground helps recruit more people.

What types of educational opportunities should be offered?

  • Regular lectures: Existing IRIGs have had great success with lunchtime talks. See the next section to find out how to access these talks.

  • Shadowing opportunities: It is strongly recommended to facilitate shadowing opportunities with interventional radiologists. While talks are educational, seeing what interventional radiologists do for a living is usually a more interesting and satisfying way for students to explore their interests in the field.

  • Research opportunities: Research is a great way to get students involved in interventional radiology and is secondarily a valuable piece of one’s residency application. IRIG leaders are encouraged to email interventional radiology faculty at their own institution to see if they perform any active research and if they are interested in working with medical students. If there is mutual interest, ask them to provide some information about their work and distribute this information to the IRIG members.

  • Activities and skills labs: Another way to get students involved in IR is through practicing useful skills such as ultrasound guidance, suturing and vascular access techniques. You can coordinate with other interest groups for some of these sessions. Inquire with your faculty advisor or surgical skills laboratory regarding available resources and time slots.

What types of lectures should be featured?

  • Introduction to IR: Teach people about what interventional radiology is, the types of procedures they perform and what life is like as an IR.

  • Tips for a successful Match: Bring fourth-year students who have applied and matched to IR (or even diagnostic radiology) to speak about their journey and to provide tips/advice to students. Involving an IR Program Director can also provide valuable insight.

  • How to be successful on away rotations: Away rotations are important for ensuring you are making the correct career choice, developing clinical and procedural skills, and obtaining strong letters of recommendation. They serve as an audition for programs to which you desire to match. Invite residents, fourth-year students or willing attendings who either have done an away rotation or had experience with rotating students to speak about do’s and don’ts.

  • Tools of the trade: Introduce students to wires, catheters, drains, coils, plugs, stents, closure devices and other tools they would use in practice. Try to bring a lot of expired supplies and demonstration models so that the students can get their hands on the materials, which is far more impactful than just watching a lecture.

  • Below are topics frequently covered by IR interest groups that align with the IR residency curriculum and can serve as a useful roadmap for planning your IRIG lectures. These subjects mirror core residency content, and groups are encouraged to use a mix of pre‑recorded materials and live sessions led by participating faculty.

    • Intro to IR

    • Peripheral arterial disease

    • Interventional oncology

    • Carotid disease

    • Thoracic aortic aneurysm

    • Abdominal aortic aneurysm

    • Chronic liver disease

    • Miscellaneous IR and trauma

    • Leg ulcers

    • Deep vein thrombosis

    • IR frontiers

    • GI bleeding

    • Varicose veins

How do I ensure IR interest group sustainability?

A continuity plan is important to the success of any interest group—especially for a specialty that historically does not have strong support within an average first-year medical school class. Without steady interest from incoming students, sustaining the group falls to faculty, residents and graduating medical students. Here are some ideas that have worked with existing IRIGs:

  • Encourage officers to stay on through their second year

  • Ask former officers to advise the group’s new officers

  • Ask the faculty or resident advisor to keep track of the group. Consider keeping an online spreadsheet where faculty or the resident advisor is an editor.

  • Ask advisors and participants to fill out a survey each year about what worked well, what didn’t, what should be changed

  • Include both resident and faculty as mentors as they provide important perspectives

  • Identify interested first-year students early and elect them to serve as junior officers

  • Use junior officers to schedule meetings around their exams/obligations Consider having special responsibilities based on the year of the medical student members to establish longitudinal involvement and give everyone a unique role. For example at some institutions, MS2s run events and recruitment, MS3s are responsible for research opportunities, MS4s responsible for mentorship.

  • Create group bylaws (often required by the student affairs office, which will likely have examples you can use)

Need additional help setting up your IRIG or networking with other IRIGs in your region?

Sometimes students setting up an IRIG can run into challenges not mentioned on this page. Other times, it just helps to know what other resources are available in your region, or if there are nearby IRIGs that might be willing to collaborate on events like regional symposiums or conventions. SIR’s goal is to make integration of IR education into your school as easy as possible.

Contact SIR directly by emailing gme@sirweb.org. Your message will be forwarded to the medical student council, an organization of medical students and residents responsible for setting up IRIGs across the country and promoting awareness of the specialty.

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