Greetings Industry Partners:

The Women's Vascular Summit (WVS) provides a comfortable forum to review differences in vascular disease presentation, intervention, and outcomes based on gender. The first annual meeting occurred in May of 2019 and was extremely successful. Based on this meeting, multiple research projects have been undertaken assessing differences in outcomes based on gender. A secondary benefit of this meeting has been connecting women Vascular Surgeons and other practitioners involved in vascular disease from students to senior surgeons.

We are asking for your financial support for this important annual meeting. We will continue to address wellness issues and equality issues for women in the field of vascular surgery. Mentorship and leadership training is critical if we are to continue to promote women in the field; in both academic and private practice. At the 2019 Summit, we successfully implemented the first meeting truly dedicated to bringing together a large cohort of women vascular surgeons as well as allied health practitioners and trainees interested in vascular disease in women. Clearly many of our societies and institutional departments are trying to offer a level playing field, but we still find numerous issues and lack of equality in many areas, including differences in pay and promotion.

Topics include the broad spectrum of vascular disorders including peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular disease, aortic aneurysms, aortic dissections, access, and venous disease. Interactive group discussions allowed participants to ask questions and to work together to develop future research projects. We hosted over 125 vascular professionals and trainees at the 2019 meeting. In prior years, we accepted submissions for research proposals, and 1 grant was given. The recipient presented her findings at the virtual meeting. We are currently accepting submissions, and anticipate another grant after the current meeting. Funding research into health disparities for women or research addressing inequities based on sex continues to be part of the mission of the Women's Vascular Health Summit. Collaborative research is also strongly encouraged.

The meeting will be held in person. We will host between 100 and 125 Health Care Practitioners interested in vascular disease and surgery. The cost of meeting registration is minimal for attendees, similar to many of the boot camps that are now offered in vascular surgery. The hope is to keep the cost to operate the meeting as low as possible for years to come. In order to do this, we require your financial assistance. We are happy to speak with you if you have any questions, and we hope to see you in Buffalo, NY in 2023!

Sincerely,

Linda Harris, MD & Mariel Rivero, MD, Course Directors
Women’s Vascular Summit