Fred Lee Reflects on Career Upon Receipt of the SIR Gold Medal

Fred Lee Jr., MD accepted the Gold Medal, the highest honor that the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) bestows, at the society’s annual meeting in March 2024. This honor is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the field, dedicated their talents to advancing the quality of patient care, and helped ensure the future of interventional radiology.

Dr. Lee is a passionate researcher, dedicated clinician, and superb educator. His work has resulted in nearly 300 scientific publications, 22 book chapters, more than 70 major awards, 25 patents and inventions, and substantial federal and industrial grant support. His commitment has had a lasting impact on cancer care; it is estimated that over 80,000 cancer patients have received treatment from tumor ablation devices that Dr. Lee invented. He has inspired and supported countless medical students and trainees in his 30-plus years as a professor at UW–Madison.

To celebrate this incredible honor, we took the opportunity to interview Dr. Lee about his illustrious career. Read the full interview for his reflections on his career and advice for future radiologists.

When you accepted the award, you had fellow faculty members, trainees, and even alumni join you on stage. Can you share why it was important to you that colleagues in all levels of the field joined you?

I get far too much credit for the successes of our team, and it was only fitting that we celebrate together. I stand on the shoulders of some incredible people, and it was fun to have them join me and take credit for helping push our ideas and UW forward.

Can you share what the receipt of this award means to you?

When I went on stage to accept the gold medal, the only word that sprung to mind was “wow.” I suddenly felt the weight of previous generations on my shoulders, and I started thinking of all the sacrifices that my predecessors made so I could stand on that stage.

When you come from an immigrant family like I do, you are highly aware that you are only there because of what others did — my life has been very easy compared to my grandparent’s and parent’s generations. Our father’s family grew up in the ghetto of Buffalo, NY and seven kids were put through college, medical school, engineering school, and pharmacy school by their hard work at our Chinese laundry where they both lived and worked.

The kids were expected to start working in the laundry at 6 years old and they didn’t have a place to live, so they slept on the floor amongst the laundry equipment. When I flash forward from the ghetto of Buffalo to accepting the gold medal on that stage…Well, I think you can see why the moment seemed unreal.