Dr. Emma Sechrist was the recipient of our Fellow Education Funding Award this July, which enabled her to attend the 2023 Intracranial Hypotension Conference in Hawaii.
Dr. Sechrist did her radiology residency at Loyola University Medical Center and is currently a neuroradiology fellow at the University of Colorado. We caught up with her after the conference to learn about what she took away from her experience at the two-day event.
As a neuroradiology fellow, Dr. Sechrist said that she most appreciated hearing presentations from neurologists. Their talks helped her understand the level of suffering of people affected by spinal CSF leak and gave her a fuller picture of the kinds of experiences patients might have before they reach the point of being evaluated by neuroradiology.
She also connected with a patient who was in attendance at the conference and felt she learned so much just from moments of conversation about what that patient’s experience had been like, from symptom onset to diagnosis to eventual surgery. It underlined for her the importance of understanding a person’s clinical story when approaching spinal CSF leak as a neuroradiologist.
Dr. Sechrist found the entire conference to be exciting and intellectually stimulating, but for her, Dr. Carroll’s presentation on needle types and post-dural puncture headache was a real stand-out.
“Until I heard his talk, I hadn’t fully appreciated how much needle type could make a difference,” she said, noting that while there’s a challenging learning curve to using the right needle, the information shared in his talk made her all the more committed to using the type of needle that is safest for patients.
The most inspiring aspect of the conference for Dr. Sechrist was the realization that it could be possible for her to make a meaningful difference in this field.
“So often when we study medicine, the matter is settled, and there’s not much more that’s new to discover. But there’s so much to learn about spinal CSF leak, and so much we don’t know, that I came away from the conference excited about the possibility of being able to contribute what I can and make a difference in the lives of people with spinal CSF leak.”
Dr. Sechrist recommends attending conferences like this to any medical professional, particularly fellows, and to anyone curious about spinal CSF leak.
Thanks, Dr. Sechrist, and we hope to see you at many more conferences—perhaps one day as a presenter!