The contributions of the Society for Vascular Surgery’s women members take center stage this month as part of the SVS Foundation’s “Voices of Vascular” series.
The “Voices” series is designed to help celebrate the diversity in the vascular surgery specialty. It debuted in February, Black History Month, and will continue throughout the year. In March, “Voices” will highlight profiles of women, their lives, their road to becoming vascular surgeons and their views of the vascular surgery specialty. The March celebration is in collaboration with the SVS’ Women’s Section.
Audra Duncan, MD, section co-chair of the SVS Women’s Steering Committee, explained why such efforts matter. “More than half of our incoming medical students are women. SVS recognizes this trend and is committed to recruiting and promoting young surgeons to represent the future of surgery, by embracing diversity and equity, including gender equity,” said Duncan.
“Several studies support that patients may have better outcomes when they can be taken care of by physicians of similar gender, race or ethnicity, so it is critical that the face of the SVS reflects the diversity of the populations we care for in order to achieve the best outcomes for our patients.”
In addition, Boston Scientific, the campaign’s presenting sponsor, will match all gifts to the SVS Foundation up to $10,000 through March 31. That means a gift goes two times as far to support Women in Vascular— past, present and future. Donors can double their impact today by visiting give.classy.org/WHM2023.
Patient education is an important part of the campaign, and includes information on how vascular disease impacts women differently and how to inform women about the common signs of vascular disease to promote health and change outcomes.
