NEW LEADER TO STRESS IMPORTANCE OF A TEAM APPROACH TO PATIENT CARE
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1287","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 144px; height: 190px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]CHICAGO, Ill., June 16, 2017 —Dr. R. Clement Darling III was elected president of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) at the 2017 Vascular Annual Meeting in June. He will serve until June, 2018.
Dr. Darling has been active in the leadership of the 5,800-member society for more than 26 years, serving on numerous SVS committees, on the board of directors and on the executive committee.
Dr. Darling graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., in 1978 and received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati Medical College in 1984. He completed his residency training at Boston’s Harvard/Deaconess in 1989 and his vascular surgery fellowship at Albany Medical Center, Albany, N.Y., in 1991.
Before he became a physician, he was an operating room and vascular lab tech on and off for eight years. That experience taught him that a well-trained multidisciplinary team was critically important to patient care. Now, as SVS president, Dr. Darling will highlight the importance of a team concept of vascular disease management.
“I know that it takes a village, if you will, to provide the very best patient care,” he said. “It is in everyone’s best interest that we move away from a physician-centric viewpoint, and be aware that we need each professional – well-trained vascular nurses, physician assistants, expert technologists in the lab and angio suite, and administrators who help us all deliver a well-run practice and consistently good experiences for patients.”
In recent months, he pointed out, the SVS has signed an agreement with the Society of Vascular Nursing. In addition, at the 2017 Vascular Annual meeting, seven different medical societies have played a role in the ongoing conversation about best practices.
“As the population ages,” he said, “we must continue to find better ways to provide cost effective, high quality care by all members of the vascular team.”
Board-certified in both general and vascular surgery, Dr. Darling is president of The Vascular Group, Albany; director of The Institute for Vascular Health and Disease, and chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Albany Medical Center Hospital. He also is professor of surgery at Albany Medical College. Dr. Darling oversees one of the largest vascular care networks in the country, encompassing over 15 hospitals and 21 vascular surgeons.
Dr. Darling has been named among Strathmore’s Who’s Who and America’s Top Doctors every year since 2002, and the Best Doctors of the Hudson Valley since 2006.
Dr. Darling has written more than 190 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals, authored more than 110 book chapters, and has lectured extensively around the world throughout his career. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has served as president of the Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society, New England Society for Vascular Surgery, and Eastern Vascular Society as well as treasurer for the SVS.