Chapter 13: Training Radiology Residents and MD Anderson as an Educational Institution
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Description
In this segment, Dr. Podoloff discusses his role as Education Coordinator of Resident Training for the Department of Nuclear Medicine and related issues in education.
He begins by emphasizing the apprentice-style education of residents and the difference between looking at a radiology film and interpreting the images there. He notes that he became Education Coordinator because residents requested that he serve that role. He talks about developing a template for evaluating education effectiveness. He also explains why MD Anderson’s education of residents is unusual because they don’t interpret films and talks about the pros and cons of this.
Dr. Podoloff then talks about changes to medical education. He observes that MD Anderson offers education to individuals at the advanced fellowship level. He also notes that he talks to students about ethics and economics.
Identifier
PodoloffD_02_20150423_C13
Publication Date
4-23-2015
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD, Oral History Interview, April 23, 2015
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - The Educator; Career and Accomplishments; The Educator; Research, Care, and Education; The Administrator; Overview
Transcript
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
So I told you about my personnel legacy. When I started, I didn’t seek this job, it was given to me. The guy who was my predecessor resigned.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
When you say this job, you mean?
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
The head of radiology.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
OK.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
I didn’t aspire to be anything more than the chairman of the Nuclear Medicine Department. That was fine with me. There were thirty-four radiologists on our staff. When I left the job ten and a half years later, there were 147 radiologists. What I did, with the help of my colleagues, is I built this place to be able to do the workload that it has been able to do. And now they’ve just continued to build it. The next step in the legacy, the reason that Marshall—well, I don’t know the reason. Marshall got the job and I was very happy about that, because there were other very qualified candidates. He’s working on the research. We’ve got the mass of people now that we need to do the work. So we’re changing the phenotype of the radiologists that we’re attracting. They’re becoming much more academic.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Interesting, OK. So it was a much more clinically focused department before.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Totally. I mean near totally.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
OK. And I’m sure that now with the research being integrated—is there a mind to recruit people who tend to focus on translational? Is there a balance? More translational?
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Well, the recruitment of the Piwnica-Wormses, both of them, both Helen and David, Helen to the Provost’s Office and David to be the head of Cancer Systems Imaging, is a wonderful stroke for the institution. And they’ll be terrific leaders. They’re just what the institution needs at this point in time.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Interesting.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Well, that’s my belief. There are a lot of people who don’t believe that but I’m not one of them.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Do you have a few moments to say why? What you believe they bring?
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Yes. They’re both outstanding scientists. And they listen very well. They’re really good listeners. And when they talk they say important things. I think Ethan is the same way, Dmitrovsky. [Ronald] DePinho has assembled an excellent team around him I think. I’m sure that everybody you interview doesn’t agree with that, but that’s my view.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah. Well, this is a collection of perspectives. Absolutely.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Yeah. I think they’re both scientists but they’re also human. And it comes across in the way they interact with people. The previous head of what was then experimental diagnostic imaging is Juri Gelovani I told you about. He came from the Baltics. And he was very Baltic. And he was very top-down. He was born in Georgia, and you did it because Juri told you to do it. That’s not David’s style.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
So different leadership style. What about the research perspective?
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Well, David has done extremely good fundamental work in nuclear medicine. He was the first to image P-glycoprotein, which is a cancer precursor. And I think he’s into MR and hyperpolarization now. I go to the department meetings but lately I’ve been so busy on the clinical side with the clinical research we’re doing that I’ve not gotten to as many of them as I should. The clinical research activity here has gotten very very busy. It took a long time to ramp it up but it’s very very full now. And in fact I’m in the process of asking them to reduce my clinical activity by another ten percent so I’ll only do thirty percent clinic, just because I’m so busy. So their leadership style is very collegial. That’s a good word.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, would you like to leave it there for today?
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
Yeah, I think so.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
OK, good, so I’m going to be turning off the recorder. It’s about 11:52. And thank you very much for taking the time today.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
You’re very welcome. As you can tell, I enjoy talking to you.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, I enjoyed it too.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
We got another one of these set up.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
We do. We do indeed.
Donald A. Podoloff, MD:
That’s what I was just going to look.
Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, the week after next, I’m not quite sure. But I’m turning off the recorder at, yes, 11:53 right now. audio repeated from - END OF AUDIO FILE
Recommended Citation
Podoloff, Donald A. PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 13: Training Radiology Residents and MD Anderson as an Educational Institution" (2015). Interview Chapters. 741.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/741
Conditions Governing Access
Open
