Sudhen B. Desai, MD

Dr. Sudhen Desai is section chief of Interventional Radiology and vice-chief of Research and Innovation (Radiology) at Phoenix Children's. He is fellowship trained in both pediatric and adult vascular and interventional radiology.

At Phoenix Children's, he is a member of the Program Development Committee, Laser Safety Committee and of the institutional research board (IRB). He is an associate professor at the University of Arizona and Creighton University Schools of Medicine. Dr. Desai is also a fellow of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), an honor conferred on less than 15% of SIR members.

Dr. Desai is excited to continue his career at Phoenix Children's because of the forward-driving vision of the institution, as well as the opportunity to work alongside multiple renowned leaders. He is proud to be a member of the talented Phoenix Children's Interventional Radiology team, which embraces the Phoenix Children's vision to deliver the best possible care to its patients and their families.

After completing a six-year BS/MD program in conjunction with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Desai earned his Doctor of Medicine degree with Distinction in Research and Alpha Omega Alpha honors from Albany Medical College. During his later years of medical school, he was selected as a scholar of the Clinical Research Training Program at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health - a clinical fellowship geared toward the development of translational researchers.

He then went on to a general surgery internship at Stanford University and a diagnostic radiology residency at the University of California, San Francisco. His residencies were followed by a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Northwestern University.

Dr. Desai was a private practice adult interventional and diagnostic radiologist for 10 years. In July 2016, he followed his desire to serve the pediatric population and returned to fellowship for an advanced training year with a focus on pediatric interventional radiology at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Subsequently, he joined Baylor College of Medicine in Houston as an assistant professor at Texas Children's Hospital.

His primary research interests focus on congenital vascular anomalies and vascular access, as well as leveraging data analytics to improve patient care. As vice-chief for Research and Innovation, he and his team focus on outcomes data for pediatric enteral tubes and development of novel interventional devices and techniques, as well as developing inter-institutional collaborations across the country.

Dr. Desai's recent research has been published in several peer-reviewed publications, including the Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, the Journal of Pediatrics and the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

In his time outside the clinic, he serves as a consultant to multiple established and start-up medical companies (TVA Medical, Exit BD/Bard 2018), scientific advisor to Sante Ventures (Austin, Texas) and chief editor for Interventional Radiology at CSurgeries.com. In addition, he has professional affiliations with the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, the American Society of Pharmacovigilance and the Society of Pediatric Interventional Radiology.

Previously he was an invited advisor to the Rice University Jones School of Business (Technology Entrepreneurship) and a member of the Advisory Council for the Master's in Clinical Translation Management at the St. Thomas (Houston, Texas) University Cameron School of Business. He has been appointed to multiple committees for the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and has lectured at multiple SIR annual meetings. He was the chief editor for IR Quarterly, a distribution of the SIR.

As president/founder of the Houston chapter of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE), co-founder of the Arizona chapter and a member of the SoPE International Board of Directors, Dr. Desai works to engage physicians interested in innovation and idea development, as well as to provide mechanisms and insights to assist early-stage companies in tackling the many challenges to successful exits.

While not tending to his clinical practice, Dr. Desai spends time tending to his greatest accomplishments. He is married with three amazing children and is an avid fan of international soccer.