2026 Symposium Bios

Ahmed Kamel Abdel Aal, MD, PhD, FSIR is Professor of Radiology and Internal medicine, Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Director Interventional Radiology at Memorial Hermann and LBJ Hospitals in Houston. Dr. Kamel is American board certified in Radiology and Interventional Radiology. He received fellowship training in Vascular and Interventional Radiology as well as Neuroradiology at University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. Dr. Kamel holds Masters of Science and PhD degrees in Radiology. He was awarded the “Dean’s teaching excellence award”, the “Top ten faculty award for excellence in resident education”, the “Certificate of Merit Award” from the Radiological Society of North America, the “Certificate of Merit Award” from the American Roentgen Ray Society, the “Certificate of Outstanding performance in Veterans Affairs Radiology Service”, and the “Louisville Slugger Award for best Board reviewer”. Dr. Kamel is a founder of the Society of Interventional Oncology (SIO), founder and Treasurer of the Society of African Interventional Radiology and Endovascular Therapy (SAFIRE) and an Honorary Board Member of the Pan Arab Interventional Radiology Society (PAIRS). His areas of clinical interest are Interventional Oncology, Portal Hypertension interventions, Dialysis interventions, and DVT management.

Into Interventional Nephrology since 1992. Educational ambassador for International Society of Nephrology for interventions. General Secretary of AVATAR India society. Secretary General of APSDA. Editor of textbook of Interventional Nephrology. Active participation in training fellows. Founder of INForm group, a premier discussion group for Interventional Nephrologist.

I completed integrated IR residency at Duke University, and am currently assistant professor of Radiology in the Duke division of IR. In addition to clinical interests including venous access, lymphatic intervention and oncology, I serve as program director for the integrated and independent IR residency programs.

Early career vascular surgeon practicing in central North Carolina.

Dr. Dolmatch is an interventional radiologist practicing with the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group in northern California since 2013. His clinical expertise spans a wide range of catheter directed IR procedures with particular interest in developing procedures and medical devices for creation and maintenance of hemodialysis access. He has pioneered the development and clinical application of covered stents to treat dysfunctional hemodialysis access circuits.

Dr. Yana Etkin is board certified vascular surgeon and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/ Northwell. She serves as the Associate Chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and a Program Director for the Vascular Surgery Fellowship and Residency programs. Dr. Etkin received her medical degree from the Downstate Medical Center. She completed a residency in General Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center and a fellowship in Vascular Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Etkin is a passionate educator who mentored and trained numerous medical students, residents, and fellows. Her efforts have been recognized by several teaching and mentorship awards including Northwell Health Teacher of the Year, Award for Excellence in Resident Education and AMA Inspiration Award. She is an active member of numerous committees in local, regional and national societies with current and past leadership roles. In 2023, she has been elected as one of the directors for the Vascular Surgery Board of the American Board of Surgery.

She maintains busy clinical practice with special expertise in aortic surgery, venous pathology, critical limb ischemia, and dialysis access. Dr. Etkin also runs an active clinical research program focused on novel vascular surgical techniques and patient outcomes. She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters. She is an Associate Editor for Annals of Vascular Surgery Brief Reports and Innovations journal and is on the editorial board of several other medical journals. She has been an invited speaker and has led workshops/courses at more than 70 regional, national and international programs.

Professor of Radiology and Surgery at MUSC, VIR attending for 20 years, MBA and CPE training, co-editor of 3 VIR textbooks, have published of dozens of book chapters and manuscripts, have patents and work with the med tech industry as a consultant. In my practice, I'm focused in Complex Venous Reconstructions, Radial Artery Procedures and in IO. Described the Sniper Technique that can be used as a Sharp Recanalization Technique in chronic CVOs.

Jacquelyn N. Hall, CCHT, VAC, is a Vascular Access Coordinator and Certified Clinical Hemodialysis Technician at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, with over 27 years of experience in inpatient and outpatient nephrology care, including experience in pediatric and adult dialysis populations. She has clinical expertise in adult hemodialysis, pediatric hemodialysis, and peritoneal dialysis support, with a strong focus on vascular access preservation, infection prevention, and regulatory compliance. In her current role, Ms. Hall coordinates vascular access care for 80–100 ESRD patients, collaborating with vascular surgeons, nephrologists, and interventional radiologists to optimize access planning, reduce complications, and improve long-term patency. Her technical competencies include AV fistula and graft management, catheter oversight, Transonic flow monitoring, dialysis water quality testing in accordance with AAMI standards, CMS regulatory compliance, and performance improvement reporting. She plays an active role in ESRD quality initiatives, multidisciplinary case reviews, and workflow optimization efforts to enhance patient safety and clinical efficiency across pediatric and adult care settings.

A recipient of the UF Health Shands Nightingale Award for Overall Facilitator of the Year and multiple Facilitator of the Year honors, Ms. Hall is recognized for her clinical precision, leadership, and commitment to advancing best practices in vascular access management. She is an active member of NANT, ASDIN, VASA, and ANNA, and remains dedicated to improving outcomes for patients across the lifespan requiring renal replacement therapy.

Vascular surgeon from Dallas, Texas who is the program director for the vascular surgery fellowship at Baylor Scott & White, Dallas & Plano with a particular interest in vascular access highlighted by participation in trials, new devices, publications and participation in national/international meetings and organizations.

Dr. Mohamad A. Hussain, MD, PhD, RPVI, FAHA, FRCSC, FACS is a Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon-Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Core Faculty at the Center for Surgery and Public Health, and Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He is board certified in vascular surgery by both the American Board of Surgery and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He obtained his medical degree from the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. He completed a vascular surgery residency and a PhD in clinical epidemiology and health services research through the Surgeon Scientist Training Program at the University of Toronto. He also completed a cardiovascular research fellowship at the Brigham. Dr. Hussain’s clinical practice is focused on general vascular and endovascular surgery, with special interests in complex hemodialysis access surgery, aortic dissection and aneurysm surgery, and thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. His research lab VESEL (Vascular & Endovascular Surgery Epidemiology Lab) conducts observational and clinical research to improve the care of patients with vascular diseases with special interests in population-based health services research, prediction with machine learning, enhancing causal inference research using target trial emulation, and clinical trials. Dr. Hussain also serves at the Director of Resident Education and Research in Vascular Surgery and Associate Clerkship Director in the Department of Surgery at the Brigham.

• Senior Consultant, Nephrologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi
• Academic Coordinator for the Department of Nephrology at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi
• Past President of Delhi Nephrology Society, 2013-14
• Past Vice President Indian Society of Organ Transplant
• Founding Member, AVATAR Foundation & AVATAR India Society
• 81 Publications including book chapters, Guidelines and Position papers
• Vice President-Elect for Indian Society of Nephrology, 2023-2024

Dr. Lawson received his Medical Degree and a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Vermont where he also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry. Dr. Lawson continued his clinical training with a residency in General and Thoracic Surgery and a Fellowship in Vascular Surgery at Duke University where he joined the faculty as both a surgeon and scientist. He was formerly Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery at Duke with a robust clinical practice and basic science laboratory. He also served as the Director of the Vascular Surgery Research Laboratory, oversaw clinical trials for the Department of Surgery, and led the General Surgery Research Residency Program. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Surgery at Duke University. Dr. Lawson has also served in leadership roles (CMO, CSO and CEO) for a number of biotechnology and medical device companies (InnAVasc, Humacyte, Atlantic Research Group, VarmX, Vascudyne) and has successfully helped manage these companies through strategic growth, financing and exists to both the public and private sectors. He has co-author of over 150 journal publications on the topics of hemostasis, tissue engineering and vascular surgery and lectures on these topics both nationally and internationally. Dr. Lawson’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DoD), American Heart Association (AHA) and various biotechnology companies. As a physician, scientist, innovator and entrepreneur, Dr. Lawson has helped to raise significant capital to fund emerging technologies and has been a strategic advisor for early stage start-ups, large publicly traded companies and governmental agencies.

• Associate Professor Osaka Metropolitan University,Director of Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT)
• Director of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Access (JSDA)
• The Chair of the Development Committee of Asian Pacific Society of Dialysis Access (APSDA)

Dr. Ragnar Palsson is a transplant nephrologist and clinical researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His work aims to advance xenotransplantation from preclinical models to successful human application, with a focus on genetically engineered porcine kidney grafts.

Dr. Dheeraj Rajan completed his Diagnostic Radiology residency at Wayne State University in 1999 and Fellowship in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000. Over his career, he has published 120 research papers, 28 book chapters and one textbook on percutaneous dialysis interventions. He is a Professor and the Academic Head of VIR at the University of Toronto. Dr. Rajan has also developed the procedure for and been pivotal in the global commercialization of a device for percutaneous creation of dialysis fistulas. His current interests are but not limited to advanced arterial interventions, and percutaneous dialysis interventions. Dr. Rajan is a member of the committee tasked with the update of the Kidney Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines which was published in 2019.

Dr. John Ross is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in vascular access. Following his training in general surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Ross dedicated his practice to treating ESRD patients. He was a founding member of the Vascular Access Society of the Americas and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (ASDIN). Dr. Ross is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, ASDIN and MAMSE (Member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators). Dr. Ross has served as the PI on numerous industry trials, spoken at dozens of medical meetings around the world and has published on a wide variety of topics related to vascular access.

In 2011, Dr. Ross founded the Dialysis Access Institute (DAI) in Orangeburg, SC. This one-of-a-kind facility serves as a model for patient-oriented care and hosts training for physicians, staff and administrators on a routine basis.

Dedicated Vascular and Endovascular "Dialysis Access" Surgeon from Germany, now Director of Vascular Access Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Served as the Head of the Vascular Access Center and Vascular Access Medicine in Hamburg, Germany in 2017-2026. Performs wide range of open and endovascular Hemodialysis Access procedures, utilizing many of the available innovative devices and techniques for creating and preserving vascular accesses. Dr. Shahverdyan holds a keen interest in innovations and patient outcomes in the field of vascular access. He has authored and reviewed numerous significant peer-reviewed publications on vascular access and serves as an invited faculty member at various national and international conferences focused on hemodialysis vascular access. Member of the Vascular Access Society of Americas (VASA), a board member and treasurer of the Vascular Access Society (VAS), and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA). Holds the position of Co-Director of the European Vascular Course (EVC) - Vascular Access Course since 2022 and served as the Founder and Director of the Hamburg Dialysis Access Symposium 2018-2024. Member of the writhing committee for the European Society of Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Access Guidelines.

Dr. Surendra Shenoy is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. As a professor in the Section of abdominal organ transplantation, his clinical and research interests were topics related to liver, kidney and living donor transplantation, and dialysis access surgery. He has developed innovative surgical techniques in transplantation and vascular access and has over 150 publications. He served on the Board of Directors and was a past president of the Vascular Access Society of the Americas (VASA). He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Vascular Access and serves as the VASA Editor for the Americas. Dr. Shenoy is active in various national and international efforts to improve and innovate the field of vascular access such as work groups to establish endpoints for dialysis vascular access organized by the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), KDOQI clinical practice guidelines update group of the National Kidney Foundation, ASN work group on transforming dialysis access together initiative (TDAT) and the Global Dialysis Access Forum. He is currently involved in dialysis access related research activities.

With 11 years of experience in Interventional Radiology, Dr. Strain has navigated the evolving landscape of the field across three different institutions. He currently brings that breadth of experience to the University of Utah, where he serves as the Program Director for the Integrated and Independent IR Residencies, overseeing the growth and training of future interventionalists.

Dr. Ushinsky is an associate professor of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He is director of Interventional Radiology at Barnes Jewish Hospital. His academic interests include vascular access for dialysis, vascular malformations, peripheral arterial disease and lymphangiography.

Dr. Voiculescu is an Associate Physician of the Renal Division at MassGeneralBrigham, Boston where she is working as a General and Interventional Nephrologist. She is the Clinical Chief of Renal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital and she is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is Board Certified in Medicine and Nephrology, Certified for Vascular Access Procedures, and in Renal, Vascular Access and Renal Artery/Vein evaluation with ultrasound and Doppler. She serves as the Chair of the ASDIN Ultrasound committee and is serving as a member of the Council of ASDIN.

She has done extensive clinical research specifically in regard to the application of ultrasound and Doppler in the field of vascular disease in renal patients.

Dr. Woo is a Professor of Surgery and vascular surgeon at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She and her team perform complex vascular access operations and are dedicated to the care of patients with end stage kidney disease. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Woo is the Principal Investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded research laboratory. Dr. Woo has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and has been an invited speaker at a variety of national and international scientific meetings. Her scientific research focuses on improving outcomes of dialysis vascular access operations and optimizing the patient experience of healthcare.