One of the singular highlights of VAM 2025—the presidential introduction and address—will take place this morning from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. on Morial CC’s First Floor (Great Hall A), with SVS President Matthew Eagleton, MD, centering his focus on the Society’s anchor in a community commitment to patients and a spirit of shared purpose. The SVS seeks to lead, unite and rebuild vascular surgery’s future, he will tell the VAM audience.
“This isn’t just a speaking opportunity— it’s a moment of reflection, connection and responsibility. A responsibility to those that welcomed me into this specialty, and a responsibility to those of you here now who are part of our current and future vascular community,” Eagleton, chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School in Boston, will say.
Like many other vascular surgeons, Eagleton’s journey into surgery came via a patient, his grandfather, who had had complications from a redo coronary bypass. The presence of a calm, focused Dr. DeWeese, who practiced both cardiac and vascular surgery, and who looked after his grandfather, profoundly changed something in the young “uncertain and unfocused” college sophomore. As Eagleton will put it: “I did not go looking for vascular surgery, it found me.”
Even early on, Eagelton recognized that people in the vascular community exerted incredible influence on others aspiring in the field. Take the late Roy Greenberg, MD, an intern then, and Karl Illig, MD, a senior resident, who were both major influences when he started out. They would go on to grapple with the future of aortic repair, as well as introduce Eagleton to invaluable future mentors such as Dick Green, MD, and Ken Ouriel, MD—”people who didn’t just do vascular surgery, but lived it. The intensity, the pace, the sense of urgency at times—it was a world I couldn’t turn away from,” he will say.
Eagleton was convinced, even as a fourth-year medical student, that one of the great strengths of vascular surgery was in its ability to deliver longitudinal care. And the early experience of presenting his research at a regional conference opened the door to interaction with the giants in the field, like Frank Veith, MD.
“Be prepared. Vascular surgery doesn’t hand you anything. But if you’re willing to show up, stay humble and learn fast— it gives back in ways few other fields can,” Eagleton will reflect.
The new president will forefront the successes that the SVS has achieved, but he will also list the numerous challenges, notably a heterogeneous and growing group of members that confronts the organization. The faultlines of the struggle he says lie in fragmentation and disconnection.
“Our biggest internal challenge right now is fragmentation and disunity. And it’s been a problem growing over the past several years,” he will note. “We’re not just disagreeing—we’re disengaging. And that weakens us. It weakens our credibility. It weakens our voice.
“Internally, we’re also seeing generational gaps. Different expectations. Different styles of communication. Different priorities. And unless we find ways to bridge those differences, we risk becoming two—or more—societies moving in parallel at best,” Eagleton will suggest.
Yet, patients and purpose are always at the heart of vascular surgery, Eagleton will argue. And beyond this dual bedrock, he will press for a different kind of leadership, one that is layered, brave and collaborative, which can chisel a culture shift embedded in hope and meet the moment.
“We need bridge-builders. People who can bring together our fragmented membership—who can sit in a room of differing opinions and find common ground without compromising our core values,” he will say.
Vascular surgery’s relationship with other specialties—particularly interventional cardiology and interventional radiology—has too often been defined by tension, Eagleton will tell attendees. And yet, the volume of vascular disease is rising fast, and “we are not enough. We can’t serve this population alone. That doesn’t mean we dilute our identity.
“It means we must instead lead with clarity, not defensiveness. We invite collaboration without losing our center. We don’t leave the table when there are disagreements. We stay. We debate. We work to discover and provide scientific evidence. We strengthen bridges. We advocate. We keep the patient the center of all of our missions.”
In his call to recommit and pull together, Eagleton will expand: “The decisions we make now—the way we lead, the way we treat one another, the way we structure this society—will define what kind of field we’re handing off. We’re at an inflection point. And we can either drift further apart, or choose to come together with clarity, courage, and conviction.”
He will define the context of the importance of this mission. “Let’s stop standing on the sidelines while others define what vascular care looks like. […] Because this is our house. And if we want it to be strong, future-ready, and worthy of the next generation—we have to take care of it.”
