President's Message

Dear Colleagues:

It is with great pleasure that I begin my term as President of the Canadian Society for Vascular Surgery.  I am honoured by the trust that the Executive and you, the membership, have placed in me. 

The recent meeting in Montreal was an outstanding success and I wish to thank the Program Chair, Dr. Joel Gagnon, for putting together a fantastic program and to the Local Arrangements chair, Dr. Jason Bayne, for organizing the social events.  The invited guest speaker, Dr. Alan Lumsden provided stimulating content and commentary that inspired surgeons, trainees and attendees alike.    

Congratulations to all of this year’s Award winners listed in this newsletter, including the first Bayer Resident research award recipient. Watch for announcements regarding the 2019 awards early in the New Year as there will be changes made to existing awards and the addition of a new Young Investigator Award.  I strongly encourage members to submit applications for these awards as it is an important function of the Society to support and encourage research.   As well, this year 4 medical students were the recipients of a Benoit Cartier Medical Student Travel Grant and had a chance to travel to Montreal to attend the meeting. 

This year, Dr. Kent MacKenzie engaged in a strategic planning process that will drive our priorities – essentially our programs, services, advocacy and communications to 2023. While we may represent multiple perspectives, regions and practice focus, we represent all vascular surgeons, and need to speak with one voice.

The CSVS committees continue to be engaged in various projects. The Canadian Vascular Surgery Research Group will be undertaking a second project comparing outcomes following open or endovascular repair of juxtarenal/short neck AAA. The education committee will be looking at developing section 3 activities and will be sending out a survey to the membership to assess content, interest and format for a future half-day CME session at the CSVS annual meeting. The CSVS Quality and Outcomes Committee chaired by Dr. Graham Roche-Nagle will be looking to share quality tracking insights and engage all members of the society. 

Thank you again for the confidence you are placing in me. 

Sincerely,

April Boyd, MD, PhD, FRCSC