The Evolution of Trauma Care in Interventional Radiology

We begin by discussing how Dr. Wilson discovered radiology, and how he has come to be a leader in IR. He started out with an interest in psychiatry, and became involved in research on psychiatric brain imaging. As he delved deeper into biomedical imaging, his fascination grew. With help from his mentor, he began publishing, which motivated him to further pursue his passion for research. He learned about IR, and then got into UCSF for his radiology residency.

Being at the frontier of innovations, Dr. Wilson has been involved in research on MR guided interventions, remote navigation, and percutaneous venous chemo filters. He says these projects have reinforced that radiology and research isn’t done in a vacuum. He depends on his collaborators in material science, chemistry, and other fields to successfully innovate. One thing he loves about the research lab is the student involvement, and getting to see high school and college students get their name on a paper. This is one area of student outreach that has an incredible impact and shapes future leaders in radiology and medicine.

Finally, we discuss how Dr. Wilson spearheaded the role of radiology within the hospital infrastructure when they created the new SF General Hospital, the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. He collaborated with hospital leadership and architects, as well as emergency medicine, surgery, anesthesia and nursing to build a state of the art trauma care center to serve the people of San Francisco. It fulfills its goal of bringing the services to the patient to deliver better and more efficient care. From CT scanners in the ED, to a hybrid trauma OR, this new center is one of the leading IR and trauma centers in the world.