Identifying Your Niche: Aligning Personal Interests with Clinical Opportunities
Part of Building Your Niche in Neuromodulation: Aligning Personal Expertise and Interest With Community and Health System Needs
Details
- Date
- Friday, January 22, 2027
- Time
- 7:05 AM – 7:15 AM
- Session type
- Breakfast Session
- Schedule
- See this day
About
Early-career physicians entering neuromodulation often face the challenge of defining their professional niche while adapting to the clinical and strategic priorities of their healthcare systems. Successfully building a focused practice requires balancing individual interests, emerging technologies, institutional goals, and the needs of the patient population being served. This session will explore practical strategies for early-career clinicians to develop a meaningful and sustainable niche within neuromodulation while contributing to the priorities of their institutions and communities. Panelists will discuss how to identify opportunities for specialization, evaluate gaps in care within their healthcare systems, and align personal clinical or research interests with broader institutional needs. Speakers will also share personal experiences in developing specialized clinical programs, building referral networks, and establishing multidisciplinary collaborations. Topics will include identifying unmet needs within local patient populations, creating new clinical pathways or services, and demonstrating value to hospital leadership and health systems. In addition, the session will explore strategies for balancing professional interests with institutional priorities, navigating early-career decision-making, and building programs that support long-term career growth while improving access to neuromodulation therapies. Through discussion and audience engagement, participants will gain practical insights into how early-career clinicians can strategically build expertise, develop innovative programs, and create lasting impact within their medical communities.
Presenters
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Dr. Helen Shi is a functional and epilepsy neurosurgeon at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California, specializing in neuromodulation, deep brain stimulation (DBS), epilepsy surgery, and advanced stereotactic techniques. She completed seven years of neurosurgical residency training at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, followed by a fellowship in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at Oregon Health & Science University, completed in July 2026. Her training has provided extensive experience in the surgical treatment of movement disorders, epilepsy, and other neurologic conditions amenable to neuromodulation.
Dr. Shi’s academic interests include DBS, stereotactic targeting and surgical accuracy, image-guided neurosurgery, and emerging technologies in functional and epilepsy surgery. Her research has included investigations of stereotactic accuracy, focused ultrasound thalamotomy, robotic stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG), and strategies to prevent sudden cessation of implantable pulse generators in patients undergoing DBS. Her prior work has also examined advanced MRI techniques for DBS targeting.
Her broader interests center on advancing safe, precise, and durable neuromodulation therapies and translating innovations in neurotechnology, imaging, and stereotactic surgery into improved patient outcomes. She remains actively involved in neurosurgical research, education, mentorship, and professional service.