Racial and ethnically-based disparities exist in healthcare. To highlight these disparities, and what the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is doing to address them, the 2021 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) will feature a special session on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). It will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 20, and will immediately precede the 2021 Presidential Address from Ronald L. Dalman, MD, at 11 a.m.

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) and the Academy for Surgical Coaching are developing a first-of-its-kind coaching program that strengthens wellness support for vascular surgeons. Studies show they—along with physicians across specialties—are experiencing an increase in burnout, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation.

Registration and housing are set to open in mid-May for the 2021 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM), which takes place Aug. 18–21 in San Diego. Educational programming is ready to run across all four days, with exhibits open Thursday and Friday. The meeting will be subject to safety and health protocols likely to change between now and August.

Three members of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, chaired by Vincent M. Rowe, MD, explain use and understanding of the term Latinx.

Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) travel scholarships for trainees to attend the Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) are set to begin accepting applications on April 21.

To help broaden its physician assistant (PA) members’ knowledge of vascular care and help them engage and interact with each other virtually, the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) PA Section has introduced the “PA Case of the Month.”

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is introducing a new webinar series, with the first installment set to take place this month. The "Meet the Experts" Webinar Series will feature expert faculty and attendees interacting in small groups for shared learning and an intimate feel. The four one-hour webinars will focus on topics that are relevant and timely to vascular surgeons who are operating in vascular practice.

Winter time is never easy in the north. Ice, cold and snow make it tough to walk outside in Lansing, Michigan, during those bitter, dark months. So there is another, somewhat unavoidable obstacle in the way of SVS Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) app users as they bid to tackle their peripheral arterial disease (PAD) head on.

“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.” Those are words ascribed to football coach Ara Parseghian, who guided the University of Notre Dame to two national championships in the 1960s and 70s. And that’s exactly what the coaches involved with the testing of the SVS Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) app, designed to help treat peripheral arterial disease (PAD), do. It turns out an app’s bells and whistles, and trackers and counters, can do only so much— the coach who helps patients through is integral.

In celebration of the 75th year of the SVS, the Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC), typically held in early May, is moving this year to be held during the 2021 VAM in August. In a year when so much has been challenging, SVS president Ronald Dalman, MD, and VAM leadership considered how VAM could serve as a “homecoming” for all vascular surgeons.