• Special Programs

2025 Vascular Fellows Program

The objective of the 2025 VESS Vascular Fellows Program is to educate graduating fellows on starting a career as a vascular surgeon. Recent topics have included negotiating contracts, billing and coding, social media and branding, how to be successful in an academic vs. private practice, and recognizing/coping with burnout. Participants have the opportunity to present interesting cases with review from our moderators.

Through industry grant funding, we are able to offer each qualified fellow a $1,000 reimbursement stipend to help offset travel and accommodations. We invite you to consider sending a fellow or trainee to this outstanding program and to attend the 2025 Annual Meeting of the VESS. The Vascular Fellows Program (Thursday, February 6th) is limited to funding 25 individuals and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. (Additional fellows are welcome to attend at their own expense.) Participating fellows will be asked to submit an interesting or challenging case for review and possible inclusion in the Case Presentation session.

We are no longer accepting applications to receive a travel stipend for this course. You are welcome to attend the program at your own expense if you are attending the annual meeting.

2025 VESS Next Generation Student Mentor Program

VESS strives to facilitate the interchange of new knowledge while providing mentorship, leadership development, and advocacy on behalf of its membership. These efforts are particularly relevant to not only the young vascular surgeon, but also the students and trainees who follow aspiring for a career in vascular surgery.

This program is aimed at achieving the following programmatic goals:

  1. To introduce medical students from around the country to the dynamic specialty of vascular surgery.
  2. To embrace the students and make them feel part of the fellowship atmosphere of the VESS annual meeting.
  3. To provide opportunity for meaningful interaction between the students and vascular surgery residents, fellows, and young faculty in attendance.
  4. To share the latest research directing the future of our specialty.
  5. To facilitate new opportunities for mentorship between the students and VESS members and leadership.
  6. To provide practical guidance for the students such that they feel better prepared to make important career decisions.

The program will feature a combination of didactic lectures and small group sessions to achieve these goals. There will be opportunity for open discussion of relevant questions (see below) and time for interaction between student and vascular trainees. In addition, ample opportunity will exist for spontaneous encounters between the students and VESS members throughout the weekend that are guaranteed to provide less formal, yet more impactful interaction. The VESS will provide each student in attendance a $1,500 scholarship to defray the cost of travel to the meeting.

The Next Generation Student Mentor Program is truly an investment in the future of our specialty by empowering the next generation of medical students to experience the clinical challenges, technological innovation, translational research, and fellowship that defines our important specialty. It requires a collaborative effort between medical schools, individual vascular surgeons, vascular societies like VESS, vascular surgical leadership, and industry partners alike to successfully recruit this country’s “best and brightest” to our specialty.

20 Questions that will be answered by participating in this program:

  1. What does the specialty of vascular surgery encompass?
  2. What type of procedures does as vascular surgeon perform?
  3. What are the training pathways in vascular surgery?
  4. When should I begin the process for applying for a vascular surgery residency or vascular surgery fellowship position?
  5. How do I get started in beginning my search for a vascular surgery residency or vascular surgery fellowship training program?
  6. Is having a vascular surgery faculty mentor important?
  7. How do I obtain a vascular surgery mentor at my institution?
  8. Can VESS help me obtain either a local (internal) or regional (external) mentor?
  9. How do I become involved with vascular research at my institution?
  10. What medical student or resident specific research meetings are available to me?
  11. How do I become involved with my local, state, regional and national vascular surgery societies?
  12. Are there scholarship opportunities available to me to help me attend meetings?
  13. How do I get started with vascular surgery surgical skills training?
  14. How do I practice vascular surgery surgical skills training during medical school?
  15. Who do I talk to at my medical school to receive access to vascular surgery skills training?
  16. Why is it important to get started in vascular surgery skills training early in my career?
  17. How do I start a surgical interest group for vascular surgery?
  18. How do I get involved in device development and innovation?
  19. Is academic or community practice right for me?
  20. What is the relationship between a vascular surgeon and industry?

We are no longer accepting applications to receive a travel stipend for this course. You are welcome to attend the program at your own expense if you are attending the annual meeting.

2025 General Surgery Resident Vascular Interest Program

We are excited to continue with offering the General Surgery Resident Vascular Interest Program, aimed to sponsor and provide network opportunities to all general surgery resident applicants that have an interest in pursuing a Vascular Surgery Fellowship.

The program will include topics of interest regarding fellowship application process, types of programs, academic and private practice, mentoring opportunities, research advancement and the unique VESS networking environment that will allow attendees to interact with other vascular fellows and residents, vascular surgery faculty around the country as well as immersion to broad vascular pathology and industry technology.

The program is scheduled on Thursday, February 6th, 2025, just prior to the Annual Winter Meeting. Space is limited to 25 general surgery residents and preference will be given to those in their 3rd and 4th year. The VESS will provide a $1,000 travel stipend to those accepted for the program.

We are no longer accepting applications to receive a travel stipend for this course. You are welcome to attend the program at your own expense if you are attending the annual meeting.

2025 Early Career Faculty Program

The objective of the Early Career Faculty Program is to provide those in their first 1 to 5 years in practice an interactive program to discuss the challenges and opportunities specific to early years in practice. This program will include topics such as establishing a career, pursuing your career interests, dealing with conflicts with your partners and understanding your practice and personal finances.  Participants will also have the opportunity to present a challenging case in an interactive forum with feedback from fellow participants as well as moderators. Each faculty member accepted into the program will receive a $1,000 travel stipend to help with the cost of attending the meeting.