VASA 2024 Symposium
May 16-18, 2024
Hyatt Regency Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
The Vascular Access Society of the Americas will be holding its 2024 Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium, May 16-18 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia..
This VASA Symposium is designed for all transplant, vascular and general surgeons, nephrologists, interventional radiologists and nephrologists, nurses and allied health professionals who are interested in the management of vascular access.
The 2024 VASA Symposium will feature leading edge presentations and exciting content, including:
- State-of-the-art lectures covering all major areas in dialysis access
- Diverse multi-disciplinary faculty, including prominent international speakers
- 30+ scientific abstract presentations
- Vascular access nursing and allied health content
- Spotlight on new devices and technologies
Who should attend: This symposium is designed for all transplant, vascular and general surgeons, nephrologists, interventional radiologists, nurses, and dialysis technicians who are interested in the management of vascular access.
Speaker Biographies
Atlee Baker, MD, MPH
I completed my undergraduate studies in 2011 at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD with focuses in biology, biochemistry, and physics. Medical studies were completed at Ross University School of Medicine, where I was able to serve as a medical tutor, sparking an interest in academic medicine. Internal medicine residency training took me to Shreveport, Louisiana where I completed training at the Louisiana State University Health Science Center program. During residency training, I served as a third year chief resident. Currently, I am a first year nephrology fellow at Washington University at St. Louis. My interests include dialysis access and interventional nephrology. I also currently serve as a fellow intern on ASN's Transforming Dialysis Access Together initiative.
Deborah Brouwer-Maier, RN, CNN
Deborah Brouwer-Maier, RN, CNN, has 40 years of nephrology nursing experience in all forms of kidney replacement modalities. Her area of focus includes hemodialysis vascular access. She served on the NKF KDOQI Vascular Access Work Groups for 1997, 2000, and 2006 versions. Deborah served on the National Leadership Group for the National Vascular Access Improvement Initiative and various Fistula First Work Groups. She is an active member of ANNA, ASDIN, and VASA professional organizations.
Ronald Chang, MD
I completed my general surgery residency in 2020 (McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX) and a vascular surgery fellowship in 2022 (Emory University, Atlanta, GA). I currently work at the Flow Vascular Comprehensive Dialysis Access Center as a vascular surgeon and also serve as the Director of the Peritoneal Dialysis Program.
Melissa Cruz
Melissa is a dedicated third-year medical student enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. She completed her undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Currently, Melissa is actively involved in delving into vascular surgery research, with a specific focus on fistula outcomes. This endeavor is conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Mohamad Hussain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Omar Davis, MD
Dr. Omar Davis is an Interventional Nephrologist From Memphis, Tennessee, where in 2007, he and his partner, Dr. Natasha Grant , opened Bluff City Vascular, the first outpatient vascular access center. He specializes in AV access creation and maintenance as well as evaluation, treatment, and prevention of peripheral arterial disease. He has also dedicated his time and efforts in combating disparities and inequities in healthcare. Most importantly, he enjoys staying active and spending time with his three children, Jackson, Justin, Ava and his lovely wife Shawnelle.
Daniel Derylo
I am a first-year medical student at the Chicago Medical School at RFU. Over the past few years, I have developed a strong interest in dialysis vascular access procedures. I have analyzed interesting cases and studied the radiation exposure from these procedures and ways to reduce it. In the future, I plan to continue my involvement in dialysis vascular access in the capacity of a vascular surgeon or an interventionist.
Bart Dolmatch, MD
Bart Dolmatch is an interventional radiologist and Professor Emeritus from UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. Dr. Dolmatch earned his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine internship and diagnostic radiology residency at University of California San Francisco, a fellowship in CT/ultrasound/non-vascular interventions at the San Francisco General Hospital, and a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at the Miami Vascular Institute. His previous positions include Co-Director, Vascular Interventional Radiology at the Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C., Section Head of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Professor of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center where he was also the Interventional Radiology Fellowship director.
A prolific researcher, Dr. Dolmatch has participated in more than 25 clinical studies and numerous basic research studies. He has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed manuscripts, as well as a textbook on stent grafts and many book chapters. He has delivered more than 300 invited lectures and presentations at conferences and symposia in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has also organized many post-graduate courses on central venous access and dialysis access including the Controversies in Dialysis Access (CiDA) meeting that has been held for the past 20 years.
A Fellow of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), and Chair of the Renal and Genitourinary Council of the SIR, Dr. Dolmatch is also a member of the Radiological Society of North America. He serves on the editorial board of Endovascular Today and Journal of Vascular Access, and he is a manuscript reviewer for several journals. He is also an active industry consultant.
Yana Etkin, MD
Dr. Yana Etkin is board certified vascular surgeon. She serves as the Associate Chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and a Program Director for the Vascular Surgery Fellowship and Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency. She is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/ Northwell.
Dr. Etkin received her medical degree from the State University of New York 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 an active member of numerous committees in local, regional and national societies with current and past leadership roles. She is part of national writing group and advisory Council for vascular EPA. She has recently been elected as one of the directors for the Vascular Surgery Board of the American Board of Surgery.
She maintains a 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 with special interest in dialysis access. She co-founded a multi-institutional national collaborative (DIAL-IN) that promotes research and innovation in dialysis access. She has authored over 40 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters. She is an editor for VSCORE, 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 50 regional, national and international programs.
James Fitzgibbon, MD
Dr. James Fitzgibbon attended the University of Pittsburgh for his undergraduate degree and subsequently completed his medical education at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is currently a general surgery resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts with plans to pursue a career in vascular surgery.
Michael Gallichio, MD
Dr. Gallichio is a partner of the New York Nephrology and Dialysis Access Services medical group in Albany, NY. He previously held positions at the Dialysis Access Institute in Orangeburg, SC partnering with Dr. John Ross. He was a Professor of Surgery at Albany Medical College in the Division of Transplantation before joining Dr. Ross. He started his career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham working under Dr. Arnold Diethelm and Dr. Mark Deierhoi in the Department of Transplant Surgery. He left UAB for Albany when he couldn’t coexist with the idiot chairman who succeeded Dr. Diethelm at UAB. Dr Gallichio performs all forms of dialysis access surgeries and procedures including inventing a novel method of placing a peritoneal dialysis catheter that is used immediately in the upright patient position with full volume exchanges in the outpatient setting.
Danica Gomes, MD, MSc
Danica Gomes is currently a Medical Officer with the Dialysis Safety Team in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she works to help improve infection prevention and control (IPC) practices in dialysis settings and combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Danica has a strong and extensive background in working to strengthen IPC and AMR programs and build emergency departments and systems in international settings with a focus in low- and middle- income countries. Additionally, she is an Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine dual-trained physician.
Elisa Greco, MD
Dr Greco studied medicine at the University of Ottawa, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She trained in general surgery and vascular surgery in Toronto and obtained a Masters of Education from the University of Toronto (OISE) during her training through the Surgical Scientist Training Program, as well as obtaining a Fellowship at the Wilson Centre for Research in Education. Once completing her General surgery training, she completed the 2 year vascular surgery fellowship before coming on staff as a vascular and endovascular surgeon at St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto.
Dr Greco is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and is committed to the educational development medical students and residents. She was the Division Director for Undergraduate medical education for Vascular Surgery and created a new curriculum in 2018 for the Faculty of Medicine. She is the director of the Vascular Lab at St. Michael's hospital. She has become the Program Director for the Vascular surgery residency program at the University of Toronto. As well she has become the Faculty lead of Wellness and development for the Department of Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital.
She sits on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons specialty committee for Vascular surgery and has been integrally involved in the development of the Competency by Design residency curriculum for Vascular surgery.
Dr Greco’s clinical interests are in secondary prevention of peripheral vascular disease, wound care with a focus on limb salvage and preservation, complex dialysis access as well as aortic aneurysm and carotid disease. She has been asked to teach at different venues on topics spanning from wound care to vascular access, wellness and leadership. Most recently she was invited to speak at the American Society of Nephrology pre-conference meeting to discuss complex vascular access. She has also won the 2021-2022 DH Gales Education Award for outstanding contributions to surgical skills education.
Mitchell Henry, MD
Surgical residency Ohio State, 1979-1984. Transplant Fellowship Ohio State 1984-1985. Transplant Surgeon Ohio State 1985-Present. Currently - Professor of Surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery Ohio State. Past President American Society of Transplantation, VASA. Author 250+ peer reviewed articles.
Carlos Hinojosa, MCs
Dr. Carlos Arturo Hinojosa is a distinguished surgeon and researcher specializing in vascular surgery. With over 20 years of experience in clinical practice, academic teaching, and medical research, Dr. Hinojosa has significantly contributed to the field, including pioneering research, leadership roles in professional societies, and extensive publication of books and articles in high-impact journals. His expertise and commitment to advancing medical science and patient care have earned him both national and international recognition.
Mohamad Hussain, MD. Ph.D.
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 Assistant 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 at the Brigham.
Sanjiv Jasuja, MD
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. 79 Publications including book chapters, Guidelines and Position papers. Vice President-Elect for Indian Society of Nephrology, 2023-2024.
William Jennings, MD
Dr. Jennings is Professor Emeritus, Department of Surgery, University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His surgical practice has been focused in recent years on vascular access with active clinical and basic science research interests. He served as director for the CMS sponsored Fistula First program and has conducted many national and regional vascular access meetings for surgeons and the renal community. He has authored more than 150 publications in the field of vascular access and other surgical topics and was a co-author of the Society for Vascular Surgery clinical practice guidelines for vascular access.
Hideki Kawanishi, MD
Dr. Hideki Kawanishi is the director of kidney diseases and blood purification therapy of Tsuchiya General Hospital, Hiroshima JAPAN. He has been an active clinical surgeon for past 48 years and nephrologist for 38 years. He is managing over 1,400 chronic dialysis patients include 200 peritoneal dialysis patients in addition to maintaining acute kidney failure program.
His research for HD has focus on the super high flux dialysis include online HDF modality, and for PD on the pathophysiology and treatment for encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS), with over 300 successful surgical cases, and clinical usefulness for complementary dialysis (hybrid PD and HD) to maintain log-term PD. He has published over 160 international articles in the field of HD, PD and artificial organs.
He is a honorary member of Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT), also organized JSPD, JSDA (president), JSHDF (president), ISBP (past president) and associate editor of Blood Purification, Journal of Vascular Access, & editorial board of Peritoneal Dialysis International, Moreover, he is a position of steering committee for PDOPPS international.
Amen Kiani, MBBS
I am a postdoctoral research fellow at Washington University, with aspirations of commencing my general surgery residency next year. I earned my medical degree from Pakistan in 2022. My primary focus lies in conducting clinical outcomes research in transplant and vascular access surgery, with a particular interest in investigating arteriovenous fistula procedures and outcomes for hemodialysis patients. My vision is to extend surgical care beyond borders and limitations, ensuring access to quality healthcare for all.
Robert Lee, MD
Robert E. Lee, MD is a medical officer from the Vascular and Endovascular Devices Team in the Office of Cardiovascular Devices, Center for Devices & Radiologic Health, US Food and Drug Administration, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Vascular and Endovascular Devices Team has the responsibility for the premarket reviews and post-market surveillance of aortic endografts, prosthetic vascular grafts, other devices used in open vascular surgery including topical hemostatic agents, venous valve substitutes, and many of the products used to create vascular access for hemodialysis or to treat dysfunctional AV access.
Dr. Lee is a native of Detroit and a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. He completed a general surgery residency and a vascular surgery fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Lee is certified by the American Board of Surgery in both general surgery and vascular surgery. Prior to joining the FDA in January 2015, he practiced vascular and endovascular surgery in southeast Michigan for three decades. Dr. Lee is the first ABS certified vascular surgeon to serve as an FDA medical officer at the Center for Devices and Radiologic Health.
Linda Liu
Linda is a third-year Biomedical Engineering PhD student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. She received her BS in Bioengineering from Rice University, Houston, TX, in May 2021. Her predoctoral dissertation research is on evaluating endovascular therapeutic devices using preclinical models of arteriovenous fistulas. She is the 2024 recipient of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) research grant. Her research is conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Saami Yazdani (Wake Forest University, Department of Engineering) and Dr. Shahriar Moossavi (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology).
Charmaine Lok
Dr. Charmaine Lok is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Lok is the medical director of both the chronic kidney diseases and hemodialysis programs at the University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. Her research focus is on kidney failure outcomes, with a special interest in vascular access, cardiovascular events prevention, and innovation. She is the Chair of the most recent KDOQI Guidelines for Vascular Access and has been involved in a variety of local and international scientific and educational programs, including ASN, NKF, VASA, ASDIN and others.
Andrea Lubitz, MD, MPH
Dr. Andrea Lubitz is currently an Assistant Professor in Surgery in the division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University Hospital. She is a board certified vascular surgeon. She also serves as the Associate Program Director of the vascular surgery fellowship at Temple University Hospital. She received her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and her medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson (Rutgers) Medical School. She then completed her general surgery residency at Temple University Hospital and completed her Masters in Public Health degree at Temple University College of Public Health during this time. She then went on to complete her vascular surgery fellowship at Temple University Hospital.
Dr. Lubitz has a clinical interest in dialysis access creation, dialysis access maintenance, complex dialysis access creation and management, as well as peripheral arterial disease, limb salvage, aortic disease and carotid disease. She leads the multidisciplinary dialysis access committee which aims to provide accessible and timely care for patients at all stages of their dialysis path from initiation of dialysis to those with complex access management needs.
John Lucas, MD
Dr. Lucas has been in practice for 35 years and has focused on dialysis access for the past 20 years. He has participated in mission trips creating arteriovenous fistulas and has been a principal investigator in 5 national trails on dialysis access. He has spoken at national and international meetings on surgical fistula creations and on the surgical correction of problems of arteriovenous fistulas and grafts.
Anuj Mahajan, MD
Anuj Mahajan, MD, is board certified in general and vascular surgery. He graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta with a Bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering. After that, he earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. He then completed an internship and his general surgery training at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas and also completed a fellowship in vascular and endovascular surgery at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Dr. Mahajan has earned a certification in Interpretation of Vascular Ultrasound (RPVI) and recently earned his MBA from Emory Goizueta Business School. He has clinical interest in dialysis access, peripheral arterial disease and venous diseases.
Dr. Mahajan is a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery, American College of Surgeons, Southern Association for Vascular Surgery and Georgia Vascular Society.
Paulo Neves, MB, MSc, MBA, FETCS
As Chief Medical Officer at Xeltis and Cardiothoracic Surgeon, I combine my clinical expertise and leadership skills to advance the field of cardiovascular devices. Xeltis has developed a revolutionary polymer-based platform that allows the patient's own tissue to colonize and transform the device into a living blood vessel or heart valve. This therapeutic approach, called Endogenous Tissue Restoration (ETR), has the potential to improve the outcomes and quality of life of millions of patients with cardiovascular diseases. I lead multiple worldwide clinical trials in 3 different clinical applications (FIH and pivotal phases) - pulmonary valve replacement, CABG and vascular access surgery.
With over 10 years of experience in cardiac surgery, I have performed over 800 operations, using minimally invasive techniques, hybrid procedures, and novel technologies. I have also proctored and trained many surgeons across the world in heart valve and heart failure minimally invasive procedures. My mission is to redefine and innovate cardiovascular surgery and to improve the quality of life of patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Shannon Novosad, MD, MPH
Shannon Novosad, MD, MPH is a Medical Officer in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and currently serves as team lead for the Dialysis Safety Team. Dr. Novosad received her medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed internal medicine residency training at Duke University and subspecialty training in pulmonary/critical care medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. In 2015, Dr. Novosad came to CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer assigned to DHQP where she investigated outbreaks in healthcare settings. Her areas of concentration include infection prevention, outbreak response, and surveillance in the dialysis setting.
C. Keith Ozaki, MD
Dr. C. Keith Ozaki serves as the John A. Mannick Chair of Surgery and the Executive Vice-Chair for the Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and as a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ozaki earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University, trained at the Deaconess/Harvard Surgical Service, and went on to complete a fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Michigan. At the University of Florida (1997-2008), he served as Professor and Chief of the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System.
This academic surgeon performs approximately 250 vascular cases annually, including open operations for visceral and lower extremity arterial occlusive disease, and complex hemodialysis access. He co-edited a two-volume comprehensive vascular surgery textbook/atlas Master Techniques in Surgery: Vascular Surgery. Twice the Florida surgery residents recognized his role in their training via the Lester R. Dragstedt Award, and in Boston Dr. Ozaki was a nominee for the Harvard Medical School Charles McCabe Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and he recently won the Joseph E. Murray M.D. and Simon J. Simonian M.D., Sc.D. Prize for Research Excellence in Surgery. Nationally he has served multiple national professional organizations such as the American Board of Surgery (Vascular Surgery Board Director), Society for Vascular Surgery, Vascular Access Society of the Americas (Board Director), and the American College of Surgeons.
Beyond his clinical and teaching contributions, Dr. Ozaki has led an NIH and AHA funded vascular research laboratory for two and a half decades, and he has spearheaded investigator initiated as well as industry translational clinical studies and device trials. His works have been published in highly competitive journals within surgery (Journal of Vascular Surgery, Surgery) and beyond (Circulation, Circulation Research, American Journal of Pathology, American Journal of Physiology, Cell, Nature Biomaterials, Science Advances).
Amber Parker, CHT
Amber Parker CHT, has 8 years of hemodialysis experience. She currently works at Gundersen Health System as a Certified Hemodialysis Technician with responsibilities that includes focus on vascular access care and cannulation that includes troubleshooting access issues and training other dialysis staff members. Her expanded role also includes supporting the PD and Home Hemodialysis programs. She is an active member of the VASA Allied Health Professional Education Committee. Amber participated in the 2022 VASA Symposium and 2023 VASA Practicum Education Committee. She joined the VASA board as a Director at Large in September 2023.
Eric Peden, MD
Eric K. Peden, M.D., received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas in 1993. He completed his residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a subsequent vascular surgery fellowship in Vascular Surgery at the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Peden also went on to do an additional Endovascular Fellowship at Texas Tech in Lubbock.
In July 1999, Dr. Peden accepted a position as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. In 2004, Dr. Peden accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine. In May 2007, Dr. Peden accepted a position of Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center and was subsequently named Chief of Vascular Surgery in 2008.
As both a surgeon and clinical instructor, Dr. Peden has received multiple awards including the A.O.R.N. Distinguished Surgeon Award in 2008 and Attending Teaching Award (Vascular Surgery Fellows and Residents). Dr. Peden also received the Golden Apple Faculty Teaching Award each year in 2010 and from 2012-2020. Prior to joining Methodist as an Assistant Professor in 2006, Dr. Peden was an Assistant Professor of Vascular Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. In 2008 he was appointed Chief of Vascular Surgery at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Houston Methodist Hospital Houston, Texas. In June of 2017, Dr. Peden accepted the position of Program Director of the Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency Program and the Vascular Surgery Fellowship Program.
Dr. Peden’s clinical expertise is in limb salvage, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Dialysis Access, Aortic Disease Management, Aneurysms, Varicose Vein Treatment, and Visceral Revascularization. Dr. Peden also focuses time and attention to research in various areas including Dialysis Access, Arterial Occlusive and Aneurismal Disease Advancement, and Advanced Venous Disease.
John Ross, MD
Dr. John Ross is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in vascular access. He founded the Dialysis Access Institute in Orangeburg SC, a unique facility focused on patient-oriented care and vascular access training for physicians and other health professionals. He was a founding member of the Vascular Access Society of the Americas. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and received ASDIN’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons which recognized him as a Master Surgeon Educator. Dr. Ross has served as principal investigator in dozens of clinical trials, has published and spoken on a wide variety of topics related to vascular access, and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Vascular Access and Endovascular Today.
Nicole Schiavone, PhD
Nicole Schiavone, PhD is a Lead Reviewer and Mechanical Engineer on the Vascular and Endovascular Devices Team in the Office of Cardiovascular Devices, Center for Devices and Radiologic Health, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in Silver Spring, Maryland. Dr. Schiavone earned her Bachelors of Science in Engineering degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2015 and her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2021. She has worked at the FDA since January 2022.
Surendra Shenoy, MD
Dr. Surendra Shenoy is a Professor of Surgery, in the Section of Abdominal Organ Transplantation, at the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. His clinical and research interests include 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 as a charter memebr 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, the Global Dialysis Access Forum and the TDAT education initiative by American Society of Nephrology.
Vicki Teodorescu, MD, MBA, RVT
Dr. Teodorescu received her MD from NYU School of Medicine in 1985 and completed her general surgery and vascular surgery residencies at Mount Sinai Medical Center in 1991 and 1992, respectively. From 1992-1998, Dr. Teodorescu was chief of vascular surgery at the Bronx VA Medical Center, where she instituted a diabetic foot clinic in cooperation with the podiatry and endocrinology services to combat emergency amputations for foot infection. In 1998, she joined the vascular surgery faculty of Mount Sinai Medical Center and served as medical director of the vascular laboratory from 1998-2003 and program director of the vascular surgery residency, 2003-2010.. As her main interest was in dialysis access, Dr. Teodorescu prospectively maintained an institutional database of ESRD patients, their co-morbidities and all their access-related procedures done at the Mount Sinai Medical Center.
In 2010, Dr. Teodorescu received an MBA in Healthcare from George Washington University. She was a member of the Fistula First Catheter Last Workgroup Coalition, helping to create various tools for both dialysis patients and the professionals who care for them. Dr. Teodorescu was named to the divisional and medical review boards of Network 6 (also known as the Network of the South Atlantic) of IPRO's End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network in 2016-202022. Board members are responsible for administering rules and regulations related to the quality and appropriateness of care delivered to ESRD patients as determined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the legislative requirements of Congress. Network 6 encompasses dialysis patients and providers in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and includes over 44,000 dialysis patients.
Alexander Toledo, MD
Alexander H. Toledo, MD, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Michigan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Biomedical Sciences in 1997. He received his M.D. from the University of Michigan in 2000. Upon completing his general surgery residency in 2006 at the University of Maryland Medical Center, he then performed a two-year abdominal transplant surgery fellowship at Northwestern University. In 2008, Dr. Toledo joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Division of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery in the School of Medicine. His current title is Assistant Professor of Surgery and Surgical Director of the Kidney Transplant Program.
Alexander Ushinsky, MD
Dr. Ushinsky is an Interventional Radiologist at Barnes Jewish Hospital in Saint Louis. He is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at Washington University in the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology.
His clinical interests include dialysis intervention, peripheral vascular disease, biliary endoscopy and vascular malformations.
Adina Voicuescu, MD
Dr Voiculescu is an Associate Physician of the Renal Division at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston where she is working as a General and Interventional Nephrologist. In addition, she is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and a fellow of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) where she served as the Chair of the Ultrasound committee and the Education Committee.
She obtained her training in Nephrology and Interventional Nephrology at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany and as a fellow of the BHW/MGH combined nephrology fellowship in Boston. Her training included all applications of abdominal, cardiac, and vascular ultrasound and she has done extensive research in regard to vascular disease and Doppler ultrasound. In addition, she has expertise in endovascular diagnostics and treatment of dialysis vascular accesses. She is Board Certified in Medicine and Nephrology, Certified for Vascular Access Procedures, and in Renal, Vascular Access and Renal Vascular evaluation with ultrasound and Doppler.
Lucinda Holden-Wingate
Lucinda (Lucy) is a third year undergraduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) studying Physiological Science with a Minor in Education. She is an aspiring medical student with a strong interest in academic medicine. She seeks to gain a deeper understanding of how physiological systems affect holistic wellness and how health systems and surgical practices can be improved through this understanding. Currently, Lucy is studying the utilization of pre-operative venograms in dialysis access planning. This research is conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Mohamad Hussain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Christopher Zammit, OMS-III
Christopher Zammit, a third-year medical student at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, has collaborated extensively with Dr. Jalal Hakmei, MD, at the Dialysis Access Institute at MUSC-Orangeburg. His focus includes optimizing fistula and graft patency, managing chronic kidney disease, and conducting related research initiatives.