Society Founder and Co-Founders – Frank J. Veith International Society

FOUNDER

Enrico Ascher, MD 

Professor of Surgery  (Clinical)
New York University 
New York, New York USA 

Executive Co-Chair, VEITHsymposium

Dr. Enrico Ascher is currently a Professor of Surgery at New York University School of Medicine and Chairman of the Vascular Institute of New York. Dr. Ascher, an internationally recognized vascular surgeon for his numerous original scientific contributions to vascular surgery and endovascular therapies has published over 350 scientific articles in referred journals and has written over 100 chapters in medical textbooks. He is the editor-in-chief of Haimovici’s Vascular Surgery who lectured extensively in major academic Institutions in the US and abroad.

Dr. Ascher is an accomplished leader in vascular surgery and was elected to the Presidency of all major national and international Societies. During his tenure as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery he created the first Vascular Surgery Practice Guideline Committee in the world and co-authored the very first CPG on the management of carotid diseases. At the same time he designed and sought approval for the initial effort to provide accreditation to centers of excellence in vascular surgery. Dr. Ascher also extended the frontiers of the SVS by creating the International Relations Committee. This resulted in 15 new SVS chapters across the globe. Dr. Ascher co-founded the World Federation of Vascular Societies with Professor Henrik Sillesen and served as President.

The academic partnership of Dr. Ascher and Dr. Natalie Marks, a board certified vascular medicine specialist, resulted in the creation of the field of interventional vascular ultrasound. They demonstrated the feasibility of performing successful endovascular procedures from the plantar arteries to the carotids without using contrast material and eliminating or minimizing radiation exposure.

Dr. Ascher’s interest in salvaging threatened lower extremities was motivated by the innovative approaches created by his mentor, Dr. Frank J. Veith. Some of the more salient contributions by Dr. Ascher include arterial reconstructions to the small arteries in the foot, effective adjunctive techniques to increase the longevity of arterial reconstructions and being the first ever to perform bypasses with arterialization of the distal venous system in North-America.

Dr. Ascher was honored with the position of Executive Co-Chair of the VEITHsymposium, the largest and most established non-societal meeting for vascular surgeons in the world. Moreover, he is the founder and chairman of the Pan-American Congress on Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. He maintains an active clinical practice and is the CEO of the Vascular Institute of New York.

CO-FOUNDERS

Keith D. Calligaro, MD

Clinical Professor of Surgery
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA USA

Neil S. Cayne, MD

Professor of Surgery
New York University School of Medicine
New York, NY USA

Alan M. Dietzek, MD

Clinical Professor of Surgery
University of Vermont College of Medicine
Danbury, CT USA

Evan C. Lipsitz, MD, MBA

Professor of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery
Medical Director, Vascular Diagnostic Laboratory
Montefiore Medical Center
New York, New York, USA

Michael L. Marin, MD

First President of the Frank J. Veith International Society
The Jacobson Professor of Surgery
Chairman, Department of Surgery
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, NY USA

Manish Mehta, MD, MPH

Professor of Surgery
Albany Medical College
Albany, NY USA

Clifford M. Sales, MD, MBA, FACS

Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York, NY USA

Russell Samson, MD, RVT, FACS

Clinical Professor of Surgery (Vascular)
Florida State University Medical School
Sarasota, FL USA

Carlos Timaran

Professor of Surgery
University of Texas
Southwestern Medical School
Dallas, TX USA

Reese Wain, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery
Stony Brook University’s School of Medicine
Stony Brook, NY USA

Michael Schwartz, MD

Rockland Thracic & Vascular Associates, PC
Pomona, NY USA