Overall, the rate of preventable amputations has decreased in the U.S., but in California there is one sub-group for which the opposite may be true.

CHICAGO, Illinois – A new Vascular Medicine Registry will be launched in early 2017 by the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) and the Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM). The registry will be housed within the SVS Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO), which was established to collect and analyze data to improve the quality of vascular care, and to do so in a neutral, de-identified environment.

This will be the first data registry to study outcomes of medical management as compared to interventional and surgical treatments.

The Vascular Annual Meeting abstract submission site opens Nov. 14 – and Dr. Ron Dalman hopes it is a beehive of activity from then until the Jan. 25, 2017, deadline.

In fact, he said, the over-arching theme of his three years as VAM program chair could be “more participation.”

“We want to make the Vascular Annual Meeting as participatory and accessible as possible. Our goal is for everyone to feel they can be part of it and contribute to it,” he said.

Dr. Iraklis Pipinos has studied peripheral arterial disease for much of his career. His research, he said, got a tremendous boost from being awarded a K08 grant, the Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award, from the SVS Foundation, in 2005 to study the myopathy of PAD. His findings eventually led to larger NIH grants and helped the research team develop additional findings which in turn have led to new applications for funding and research.

Vascular surgery has become an increasing clinical and technical area of expertise. The Vascular Research Initiatives Conference, to be held May 3, 2017, in Minneapolis, serves to preserve the biologic side of vascular surgery and provides a forum for vascular surgeon scientists to present and discuss new research and possibilities.

Dues Statements Mailed

Members should pay their 2017 dues by Dec. 31 to ensure they continue to receive all the benefits of SVS membership, including subscriptions to the Journal of Vascular Surgery publications; discounted registration fees for educational sessions; advocacy and legislative access; grant programs; practice resources; branding and public relations and much more.

Dr. Jason K. Wagner, M.D., M.S., resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Heart and Vascular Institute, was the 2015 recipient of the SVS Vascular Surgery Trainee Advocacy Travel Scholarship. He spent time during the 2016 Vascular Annual Meeting talking with members of Congress and their staff. Below is his report on the experience, with more information about the scholarship following.  

Shop online at 'Amazon Smile' Page to Contribute

The holidays are upon us. This year you can do your shopping and do a good deed for the Society for Vascular Surgery at the same time.

Visit the Amazon Smile program, which offes a simple way to support the SVS Foundation every time you shop at Amazon.com. It costs you nothing beyond the cost of that cashmere sweater in your shopping cart.

New Committee Helps VA Surgeons Meet Unique Challenges

Vascular surgeons working with the Veterans Administration face unique challenges. To help meet them, the Society for Vascular Surgery created a committee specifically for those members.

The VA Vascular Surgeons Committee was the brainchild of Immediate Past President Dr. Bruce A. Perler, and the group held its first organizational meeting in January.

The Society for Vascular Surgery extends its condolences to the family of Dr. Denton Cooley, one of our vascular surgery pioneers, who passed away Nov. 18, 2016 at the age of 96.

A long-time member of the Society and a lifelong resident of Houston, Texas, Dr. Cooley was an undisputed leader in the field of vascular surgery. In 1968 he performed the first successful heart transplant in the U.S. and a year later implanted the first artificial heart. He was founder and surgeon-in-chief of Texas Heart Institute. He developed many of the vascular procedures we still use today.