Recent News
June 3, 2021 • Article
DEI One specialty, many voices, diverse perspectives
Over the course of the last year, the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has been on a journey toward fostering greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). From the nadir of #Medbikini almost a year ago, the SVS Executive Board has since embraced and published a report from the SVS DEI Task Force—now a full-fledged committee—that called for action and change.
June 3, 2021 • Article
Overcoming prejudice and uniting our diverse but vulnerable specialty
The United States has been living through some charged times recently. Our profession is not immune to these conflagrations. In recent times, minority members of the diverse specialty of vascular surgery have seen people who look like them come under attack. And there are politicians and other actors who make it their mission to try to divide us. Against this backdrop, I will relate a personal journey of confronting discrimination and, ultimately, of hope and acceptance.
June 3, 2021 • Article
Does this loofah make me look gay?
I doubt many people remember a specific time they watched C-SPAN, let alone the exact date. But on Dec. 18, 2010, there I was, in my Durham, North Carolina, apartment, watching the U.S. Senate vote on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. Up until 1993, the military forbade openly gay people from serving, even though it was common knowledge that gay men and women have served this country in every war.
June 3, 2021 • Article
Being queer without proximal or distal control
“What do you mean your partner? Does that mean a man?” These were among the questions one of my mentors asked me when we were discussing my list of pros and cons regarding the vascular surgery residency training programs to which I would apply. “Yes, my partner is a man.” The expected “oh…” was a reply I heard going to research meetings and throughout the residency interview trail. Unclear was whether this “oh” was one of disappointment, a nervous response, or concern if I would “fit” in vascular surgery. This “oh” haunts me because, in one short utterance, all of my accomplishments can be easily stripped away.
June 3, 2021 • Article
Patient: ‘Whole body wellness includes the mind and body’
Kathryn Bowser, MD, a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, talks to Justin Michel, 29, who identifies as a non-binary trans masculine person, about the patient experience navigating medical care as an individual of minority sexual identity.
