The Society for Vascular Surgery’s 2022 Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC) will return to its spring timeframe of the past several years.
Abstract submission for VRIC closes at 6 p.m. Central Time Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. Registration opens Feb. 10, 2022; look out for information on early-bird rates that will be available before then.
The conference will be held May 11, 2022, in Seattle, the day before—and in the same place—as the American Heart Association (AHA) “Vascular Discovery: From Genes to Medicine” Scientific Sessions from May 12–14, 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of the live VRIC in the spring of 2020, and a pivot to a virtual meeting that fall. In 2021, with the AHA not holding live sessions, VRIC joined the Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) with a shortened program of four hours, over two days.
VRIC focuses broadly on emerging vascular science and translational research relevant to vascular patients. Collaboration is key, with audience-presenter discussion that helps motivate participants to discover solutions to vascular disease issues.
The conference brings together vascular surgeons, vascular biologists, physicians with an interest in vascular problems, vascular surgery trainees and research trainees focused on cardiovascular biology.
Highlights include the Alexander W. Clowes Distinguished Lecture, typically delivered by a noted scientist/researcher, and the always-popular translational panel and discussion. This year, the theme is “Translational Immunology and Cardiovascular Disease.” There will be four abstract sessions broadly focused on:
- Arterial remodeling and discovery science for venous disease
- Vascular regeneration, stem cells and wound healing
- Atherosclerosis and the role of the immune system
- Aortopathies and novel vascular devices
“VRIC allows us to identify important breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms of vascular pathology that allow for development of therapies to prevent and treat common vascular diseases,” said Katherine Gallagher, MD. She chairs the SVS Basic and Translational Research Committee, which plans the conference; she herself is a longtime VRIC presenter and mentor to other presenters.
“This meeting is an excellent venue for research/ surgical trainees who focus on translational research in vascular disease. The discussions surrounding the presentations often lead to collaborations and new directions for many in our vascular research community.”
VRIC presents some of the research at the ground-floor level in many ways, she said. This is research that “affects future treatment and management of vascular disease, and the care our members eventually will provide patients.” For more information on VRIC—to be held at the Sheraton Grand Seattle Hotel—visit vascular.org/VRIC22.
