Frank Veith, MD

A colleague had this to say: “Frank has been running the VEITHsymposium for over 35 years and it has steadily grown because of his personal efforts to advance the education of physicians in multiple specialties. His successes have been the successes of all those who have learned from his educational endeavors.”

Where do you see the specialty of phlebology in 5 years? 10 years?

1. Increasing in importance and stature as a well defined sub-specialty. 2. Increasingly trending toward less invasive endovascular procedures and minimally invasive techniques.

In your opinion, which area of research is yielding the most advancement in the field?

Well done randomized controlled comparisons of various therapeutic techniques.

What technological advances are contributing to the quality of vein treatment that most excite you?

The availability of safe effective minimally invasive treatments.

What is the biggest challenge in your work?

Keeping the medical community informed of the latest advances and best medical treatments.

Are you involved in leading or teaching educational symposiums at clinics, hospitals, universities, etc? Please share your experiences.

I am involved in running a major vascular meeting, the VEITHsymposium. I also attend many other national and international conferences and symposia, and I participate in teaching and research in my own institutions.

Tell us about any publications or research you are currently working on or recently finished.

I have contributed to the introduction of many endovascular techniques into the armamentarium of vascular surgeons. These include many publications on endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) and fluoroscopically assisted procedures such as thrombolectomy and repair of traumatic vascular injuries. I am currently working on a collective worldwide review of EVAR for ruptured abdominal and thoracic aneurysms.

What efforts have you been involved in to foster cooperation (rather than competition) between the various venous educational organizations so that the greatest number has access to the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of venous disease?

I have worked on many multidisciplinary committees and our VEITHsymposium is totally multidisciplinary - both in terms of faculty and audience.

Have you been actively involved in any public awareness campaigns? Please give us the details on how the campaign was structured, examples of campaign materials and the response received from the community in which you practice.

I founded and worked for many years on the SVS government relations committee, one goal of which was to increase awareness within our government and the public of the importance of vascular disease and the fact that it should be managed by vascular specialists with appropriate education, training, experience and commitment to the vascular disease field. I led the effort to establish vascular surgery as a distinct and separate specialty rather than a component of general surgery. I believe that specialists in non-cardiac vascular disease management can come from backgrounds in surgery, medicine (cardiology) or radiology, and I have publicly espoused this view.

Who or what inspires you the most?

E Stanley Crawford and Juan C. Parodi inspired me the most as creative surgical thinkers who transformed our field.

If you could do anything else for a living, what would it be? Why?

I would do what I did again.

What question did we not ask that we should? Now, answer it!!

How should we prevent physicians from doing unnecessary procedures? We as physicians have to develop a better sense of responsibility and better ethics.