CHICAGO, Ill.— As he completed his term as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), Peter F. Lawrence, MD, began his term as chair of the SVS Foundation at the society’s 2015 annual meeting in Chicago in June. The Foundation supports research to improve the quality of vascular patient care.
Dr. Lawrence will oversee the foundation’s competitive peer-reviewed grant-making initiatives, which are enabled by contributions from members, medical societies and corporations.
“We have an important opportunity through the SVS Foundation to support world-class clinical outcomes research,” Dr. Lawrence said. “Particularly for studies that compare outcomes for endovascular and open surgery procedures, I look forward to generous support from colleagues across the medical specialties whose patients rely on our leadership.”
Medical societies that contribute to the SVS Foundation include the Society for Vascular Surgery, American College of Surgeons, American Podiatric Medical Association, Eastern Vascular Society, Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society, New England Society for Vascular Surgery, Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, Southern Association for Vascular Surgery, Vascular & Endovascular Surgery Society and the Western Vascular Society.
Dr. Lawrence is chief of vascular surgery and professor of surgery at ULCA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and director of the Gonda Vascular, Wound Treatment and Clinical Tissue Engineering Centers. Dr. Lawrence also holds the UCLA Bergman Chair in Vascular Research. His research, related to aneurysms, limb salvage and venous disease, has earned funding from the National institutes of Health and the Department of Defense and others, including $5.5 million in grant support over the past five years.
After graduating Dartmouth College, Dr. Lawrence earned his medical degree with honors from Harvard Medical School, then went on to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center to complete his residency and fellowship. Before joining the University of California, originally in Irvine, Dr. Lawrence spent the first 20 years of his career at the University of Utah, where he served as chief of surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital, chair of the division of vascular surgery and president of the medical staff.
Dr. Lawrence is immediate past president of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS). Among the highlights of his presidency, he counts restructuring the SVS board to make it more inclusive and raising awareness of issues related to unnecessary vascular surgery procedures. Dr. Lawrence has actively participated in numerous other national and regional medical societies, and on the National Board of Medical Examiners and American Board of Surgery. He has written core curriculum textbooks in both vascular and general surgery, and has served on the editorial board or as selective reviewer for 11 different medical journals.
Dr. Lawrence is married to Karen R. Lawrence, PhD, president of Sarah Lawrence College. They have two sons.
The Society for Vascular Surgery advances the care and knowledge of vascular disease, which affects the veins and arteries of the body, to improve lives everywhere. It counts more than 5,300 medical professionals as members worldwide, including surgeons, non-surgeon physicians, nurses and physician assistants. For more information about vascular health and the society, please visit www.vascularweb.org.