SVS Elects Bruce A. Perler, MD, Ronald M. Fairman, MD, and R. Clement Darling III, MD, to Leadership

August 5, 2015—The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) announced the election of new officers at the society’s 2015 Vascular Annual Meeting, which was held June 17–20 in Chicago, Illinois. Bruce A. Perler, MD, was elected President; Ronald M. Fairman, MD, was elected President-elect; and R. Clement Darling III, MD, was elected Vice President.

As president of the 5,300-member organization, Dr. Perler will chair a board of directors of more than two dozen vascular surgery leaders, and will oversee four governing councils, 26 committees, and 400 volunteer members. In addition, he will lead the efforts of more than 20 full-time SVS employees in the society’s offices in Chicago and Washington, DC.

Dr. Perler is the Julius H. Jacobson II, MD Professor of Vascular Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland; Vice Chair for Clinical Operations and Financial Affairs for the Department of Surgery; and Chief Emeritus of the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Fairman is Chief of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also has a dual faculty appointment as Clyde F. Barker–William Maul Measey Professor in Surgery and Professor in Radiology.

In the SVS announcement, Dr. Fairman highlighted the opportunity as President-Elect to expand the society’s historic commitment to education, stating, “SVS needs to be at the forefront in defining and advocating highest-quality care through public education and by promoting our practice guidelines. It is a priority to update and expand our practice guidelines emphasizing our total care of patients with vascular disease.”

Dr. Darling is President of the Vascular Group in Albany, New York; Director of the Institute for Vascular Health and Disease and Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Albany Medical Center Hospital; and Professor of Surgery at Albany Medical College.

Peter F. Lawrence, MD, completed his term as SVS President this year and began his term as chair of the SVS Foundation, which supports research to improve the quality of vascular patient care. Dr. Lawrence will oversee the foundation’s competitive peer-reviewed grant-making initiatives, which are enabled by contributions from members, medical societies, and corporations.

Dr. Lawrence is Chief of Vascular Surgery and Professor of Surgery at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California. His is Director of the Gonda Vascular, Wound Treatment, and Clinical Tissue Engineering Centers and holds the UCLA Bergman Chair in Vascular Research.