When Frank Davis, MD, attended the SVS Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC) for the first time in 2014, he found not only meaningful discussions on research but also a pathway to the life he wanted. And he encourages those interested in research to attend.
The then-medical school student had taken a year off to do research and study basic science in the lab of Alan Daugherty, MD, at the University of Kentucky. Daugherty encouraged Davis to attend VRIC, telling him it wasn’t just basic research and basic biology.
Davis said Gilbert R. Upchurch Jr., MD, an invited speaker that year, “talked about his pathway to being a surgeon-scientist and the top 10 things he learned along the way.” “It was eye-opening,” said Davis. “I saw my interest in vascular surgery and being a surgeon-scientist playing out in front of me.” His mentor Peter Henke, MD, also gave a talk on the road Davis wanted to follow. “I heard two prominent talks that showed me, ‘This can be done.’ It was a good opportunity for me to see people who are the surgeon phenotype of who I wanted to be.”
Abstracts for VRIC 2025 are now being accepted through 6 p.m. Central Standard Time on Nov. 20. The conference itself— which focuses on basic and translational vascular science in an atmosphere that fosters thoughtful discussion on research—will be held all day on April 22, 2025, at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront in Baltimore, Maryland.
VRIC will be held in conjunction with the American Heart Association’s Vascular Discovery 2025 Scientific Sessions: From Genes to Medicine, in the same location, from April 22–25, 2025.
Davis, a past attendee and presenter who now has his own named lab at the University of Michigan, encourages all those interested in basic science and translational research to attend. “It’s fertile soil for junior researchers to launch their careers,” he said. It lays a “supportive groundwork and provides robust surgeon-scientist mentorship opportunities.”
Visit vascular.org/VRIC25 for more information.
