Articles & Press Releases

New Customized, Peer-to-Peer Coaching Program Fills Gap in Health and Wellness Intervention for Vascular Surgeons

The moving pieces that comprise the 2021 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM), set to take place Aug. 18–21, are being assembled into a blockbuster whole. Though plenary sessions have yet to be structured, all of the invited sessions—“Ask the Experts,” breakfast and concurrent sessions, as well as postgraduate courses—are mapped out.

Winter time is never easy in the north. Ice, cold and snow make it tough to walk outside in Lansing, Michigan, during those bitter, dark months. So there is another, somewhat unavoidable obstacle in the way of SVS Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) app users as they bid to tackle their peripheral arterial disease (PAD) head on.

The Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS) bestowed its first-ever Lifetime Achievement in Education Award on the association’s one-time president Jack L. Cronenwett, MD, during its annual Spring Meeting (March 26–27).

In celebration of the 75th year of the SVS, the Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC), typically held in early May, is moving this year to be held during the 2021 VAM in August. In a year when so much has been challenging, SVS president Ronald Dalman, MD, and VAM leadership considered how VAM could serve as a “homecoming” for all vascular surgeons.

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is introducing a new webinar series, with the first installment set to take place this month. The "Meet the Experts" Webinar Series will feature expert faculty and attendees interacting in small groups for shared learning and an intimate feel. The four one-hour webinars will focus on topics that are relevant and timely to vascular surgeons who are operating in vascular practice.

The year 2020 was one of firsts and of resilience. We had a plague of biblical proportions; civil unrest; fiery political and racial tensions; riots; polar vortices, where it was literally freezing in the Southwest; and, last but not least, the looming threat of Medicare cuts, limiting our patients’ access to care and fee cuts to all of our practices. All of this within the last year.

“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.” Those are words ascribed to football coach Ara Parseghian, who guided the University of Notre Dame to two national championships in the 1960s and 70s. And that’s exactly what the coaches involved with the testing of the SVS Supervised Exercise Therapy (SET) app, designed to help treat peripheral arterial disease (PAD), do. It turns out an app’s bells and whistles, and trackers and counters, can do only so much— the coach who helps patients through is integral.

(A shorter version of this article can be found in the March 2021 Vascular Specialist.)

In order to recognize the diverse ways members interact and consume information, a new Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Communications Committee, replete with three subcommittees, has been formed.

The mobile app for the fifth edition Vascular Educational Self-Assessment Program (VESAP5)—for both Android and Apple operating systems— is now available. Apple users need to visit the App Store, while Android users should visit Google Play (play.Google.com).

Call it timing on several fronts, each part coming together for the benefit of patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Despite it being a year unlike any other, the increased generosity of the SVS Foundation donors allowed for the mission work to continue as planned.

New officers are in place with the SVS Section on Outpatient and Office Vascular Care (SOOVC) Executive Committee.

A new Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) report highlights both the critical skills vascular surgeons provide to a healthcare system and the specialty’s benefit to an institution’s bottom line.

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Foundation recognizes and thanks all SVS surgeons and physicians on National Doctors’ Day, which falls on March 30.

Report Finds the Role of Vascular Surgeons May be Underappreciated and an Investment in Vascular Surgeons will Provide a Substantial Return for the Health Care System

Existing registries have now combined into a single resource focused on improving care and outcomes of patients with vascular disease

By Beth Bales

Significant disparities in healthcare services in the United States result in unnecessary limb loss, stroke and death. Vascular health professionals are developing new programs to address these inequities, through the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Foundation.

SVS Education Committee chair Kellie Brown, MD, sits down with Beth Bales to answer some questions about the new SVS education platform.

Q. Portal? Website? SVS OnDemand? I keep hearing these terms. What’s what?

By Beth Bales

By Beth Bales

To enhance the chances of being able to hold the 2021 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) in-person, the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has moved the conference, lock, stock and barrel to mid-August.

By Beth Bales

The SVS Foundation received an extra infusion of contributions in late 2020, thanks to more than 40 new donors and the generosity of four members who matched a portion of these donations.

By Beth Bales

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is starting 2021 with updated guidelines and reporting standards for three vascular conditions.