BY BETH BALES
Expanding the Board provides for broader representation while the three-year term for the chair provides continuity, said Michel S. Makaroun, MD, whose term as chair ended June 20. The changes as a whole “position the SVS Foundation Board for further growth,” he said.
In addition, the immediate past president of the SVS will no longer succeed to the chair position, but will serve on the Foundation board.
In announcing these changes at the first SVS Annual Business Meeting on Monday, June 15, Makaroun named Peter Lawrence, MD, who chaired the Foundation in 2015–16, as the new chair.
New public members are “friends of the SVS” Marty Sylvain and James Neupert.
Other infrastructure changes include the creation of three-year terms for board members, with the exception of staggered terms for the first cycle to provide continuity; the development of criteria for evaluation of current and future programs; and amended bylaws to enact the changes.
Besides Lawrence, other members of the Foundation Board of Directors are SVS president Ronald L. Dalman, MD; president-elect Ali AbuRahma, MD; immediate past president Kim Hodgson, MD; SVS treasurer Keith Calligaro, MD; Edith Tzeng, MD, chair of the Research Council; and SVS members William Shutze, MD, Richard Lynn, MD, Matt Eagleton, MD, and Joseph Hart, MD, as well as non-SVS members Nasim Hedayati, MD, Sylvain, and Neupert.
Outgoing president Hodgson thanked Makaroun for his work, particularly with adding the SVS Foundation “Vascular Spectacular” Gala to the Vascular Annual Meeting. Hodgson called the restructuring “an outstanding idea and an outstanding accomplishment.”