Dear Colleagues,
Now that the snow has passed it’s time to look forward to the warmer weather. Here on the CSVS executive committee we have been busy working on several initiatives and future events.
In March, I had the opportunity to moderate a session at the Vascular and Endovascular Surgical Society (VESS) Meeting in Whistler. I left the meeting with an invigorated excitement for a similar meeting for the CSVS. In conjunction with Drs. Ivica Vucemilo, Andrew Dueck, Benoit Cartier and of course Ms. Alexi Campbell we have been putting together a plan for a winter meeting of our own. You may have received a survey a few months ago where we polled the membership on the collective interest in such a meeting. The response was overwhelmingly “Yes”! The format will be case-based and interactive and we are planning the inaugural meeting for February 2024 in Whistler. With the help of Dr. Benoit Cartier, who for many years organized the Tremblant Vascular Surgery Meetings, we hope that this will be a great initial meeting for everyone involved. I believe it will be an excellent complement to our Society’s Annual Meeting, which is more scientific in its format. More to follow on this!
Speaking of our Annual Meeting, the deadline has passed for abstract submission, and we have received a large number of excellent quality abstracts from across the country. I can say that after reviewing these over the years that the future of research and academic vascular practice in Canada shines very brightly. Apart from all the great presentations though, who doesn’t just want to visit La Belle Province and beautiful Quebec City? I know that local arrangement chair Dre Mireille Méthot has been planning and searching out some great venues for us. Our program chair for the meeting Dr. Virginia Gunn has been busy with Alexi on putting an excellent program together so please look out for the email to register in the next little while.
Dr. Luc Dubois has been working in the background on our own online CSVS Journal. This will be a venue to submit manuscripts for publication and, with an online accessible platform, will give us our own voice and footprint in this area. Thanks again Luc for all your efforts on this!
As the Winnipeg Vascular Symposium just finished, I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces and meeting new ones as well during the Thursday trainee day. The agenda looked great and was packed with excellent topics and talks. Thanks again to the Winnipeg group for organizing this yearly event. It is truly an important one in the Canadian vascular landscape.
Well, I hope this gives you a taste of what we are working on at the Executive level. Please reach out to me if you have any ideas or questions (harlocj@mcmaster.ca), as we are always interested in your feedback. Once again, it is an honour to be the CSVS President and I look forward to continuing serving you and our Society over the rest of the year.
Sincerely,
John Harlock, MD MSc FRCSC FACS
President Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery
