Johns Hopkins Job and Baltimore Sports Make Volunteer a Happy Marylander
By Rodney Campbell, ABR Communications Manager
2025;18(1):11

During the NFL season, Brian Holly, MD, and a few of his colleagues at Johns Hopkins get together the day after Baltimore Ravens’ games to talk about the outcome.
He jokingly calls it “solving all of the team’s problems.”
“He’s a very passionate Ravens fan,” said Robert Liddell, MD, director of interventional radiology and an associate professor of radiology and radiological sciences at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “We bond over sports, as do a lot of our trainees. It’s another opportunity to diffuse things and allow people to be people and take the academic and the medical side of things out.”
Dr. Holly is part of a winning team of his own. As the interventional radiology integrated residency program director and assistant professor of radiology and radiological science, he’s the trainees’ equivalent of Ravens coach John Harbaugh.
“As a program director, you want the best for your trainees,” said Dr. Holly, who also writes IR/DR Qualifying (Core) Exam questions as an ABR volunteer. “You want them to be successful.”
He believes that serving as a volunteer helps him better understand the discipline and rigor of the process for the creation of a balanced and valid exam.
“I tell the residents that these questions go through multiple layers of revisions and testing,” he said. “There isn’t just one person coming up with a couple hundred questions and you have to figure out what they’re asking you. There are a lot of very dedicated and smart folks working hard on these things to make sure that the questions make sense and they’re fair, and the answer choices are good and there are no tricks involved.”
Dr. Holly’s ABR committee chair said his involvement has improved the group’s work.
“His contributions are high quality, and it is fun to work with him on the committee,” said Sidhartha Tavri, MD. “I very much look forward to his participation in the next cycle.”
In his clinical duties, Dr. Holly specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and post-thrombotic syndrome; advanced venous interventions including prostatic artery embolization; IVC filter removal; treatment of vascular malformations and uterine fibroids; and advanced biliary interventions.
“He does a lot of work with complex venous anatomy and recanalization of chronic venous occlusions, kind of stubborn, hard-to-fix issues,” Dr. Liddell said. “He has also gotten into other areas like prostate artery embolization, which requires a lot of skill and very fine technique. He is outstanding technically and clinically.”
Dr. Holly spends much of his week doing procedures and seeing patients in the clinic. A physician who originally considered orthopedic surgery, he enjoys hands-on work that complements his academic time.
“One of my favorite parts about my job is that no two days are the same,” he said. “I get to do something a little different every day. I really enjoy taking care of patients. I really enjoy teaching. I’ve got a nice mix of things that I enjoy doing.”
A lifelong Marylander, Dr. Holly graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2007. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Mercy Medical Center in 2008 and finished a radiology residency in 2012 at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He followed that with a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology in 2013 at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and joined the faculty there afterward.
“All the stars aligned, and I ended up at a great practice at a great institution in an area where I wanted to be,” he said.
His home state has everything that he and his family want. He has spent the past decade working in Baltimore, connecting with colleagues and friends about the Ravens, Major League Baseball’s Orioles, and attractions outside the sports world.
Maryland fits his needs well.
“I tell my colleagues around the country that Maryland is the best state,” Dr. Holly said. “It’s got everything. We have oceans, mountains, cities, Chesapeake Bay. The schools are good for having a family. Maryland food is really good. There’s something to do for everyone.”