Dear SVM Members,
I hope you are enjoying the fall season --- I am personally adjusting to the long hours darkness here in Northeast Ohio, but am looking forward to the extra hour of sleep this weekend. There are a number of things happening within the Society. I have mixed feelings in reporting to our membership that Leslie Monahan left our team at SVM/Kellen earlier this month to pursue other professional opportunities in the Chicagoland area. It is a bittersweet development because Leslie was a terrific and collaborative Executive Director and we had built a great working partnership during the past 2 years. Fortunately, I am very pleased to be able to introduce our new Executive Director, Julie Webb. As you will see below, Julie is a terrific professional with extensive experience in non-profit organizational management. She has deep experience in fundraising and foundation management that I am eager to have her bring to SVM leadership. Julie has been hard at work getting to know our Executive Committee, Trustees, and committee chairs. Please feel free to reach out to her directly if you have yet to introduce yourself and wish to discuss a Society-related project. Fortunately, the remainder of our terrific management team will stay in place at this time of transition, including our Administrative Director, Annie Cox, our Communications Director, Justin Dreyfuss, and our meetings and exhibits team of Kim Santos and Tonya Cabrera.
Aside from the leadership transition, we have been busy with Annual Meeting planning (Raghu Kolluri and his committee are cooking up a fabulous 30th Anniversary celebration) and putting the final touches on the Fellows’ course (thanks to Ido Weinberg and Mitch Weinberg). We are also finalizing the 2019 Vascular Medicine Salary and Compensation Survey that will launch in January and a new PAD Toolkit (in partnership with Janssen). Next month, coinciding with Giving Tuesday, we will also launch an important fundraising campaign in honor of the 30th Birthday of our beloved Society. Stay tuned for information about opportunities to invest in the next 30 years of our Society. You will hear more about these initiatives, and more, in the next few months.
Finally, if you are heading to Chicago for AHA in a few weeks, please join me and other SVM members for an informal gathering on Sunday, November 11th (details below).
In fellowship,
Heather L. Gornik, MD, FSVM
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