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Articles
Articles about the Society for Vascular Surgery.
June 3, 2021 • Article
Progress made during year like no other
While the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects dominated 2020–21 fiscal year—including the cancellation of the live 2020 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM)—it did not deter progress on many important initiatives. “When covid hit, it intensified our focus on what was truly important: our members, their patients and the SVS as their Society,” said Executive Director Kenneth M. Slaw, PhD. “That focus was sustained the past 15 months and it has led to innovation and an unprecedented volume of member value programs.” He outlined important highlights from the fiscal year that ended March 31—just more than a year after the pandemic was declared—and the vital initiatives that continue to move forward.
June 3, 2021 • Article
A few years ago, in his presidential address to the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, Mark Mattos, MD, spoke eloquently about the need to “protect our specialty.” A large part of this, he argued, is protecting our patients; no other specialty in medicine can provide the type of comprehensive vascular care that we offer. The daily reality we all face is the potential for declining Medicare reimbursement for our services.
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.
