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Home > Press Center > Vascular Surgeon Volunteers to Relieve Army Surgeons

Contact:
Emily Kalata
Assistant Director, Communications
312.334.2309

Seventeen Society for Vascular Surgery members have volunteered to fill slots in the surgery rotation of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany where many of the soldiers injured in Iraq are treated. The military has only a limited number of vascular surgeons who are filling positions in military hospitals in the United States and internationally.

The volunteer vascular surgeons are:

• Elias J. Arbid, MD, Commonwealth Surgical Associates, Portsmouth, Va.
  Volunteering: March 1-16, 2008
• Marvin D. Atkins, Jr., MD, Scott & White Hospital, Temple, Texas
  Volunteering: Nov. 26 – Dec. 9, 2007
• Christian Bianchi, MD, Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center, Loma Linda, Calif.
  Volunteering: April 26 – May 11, 2008
• William Todd Bohannon, MD, Scott & White Hospital, Temple, Texas
  Volunteering: Feb. 2-17, 2008
• Clifford J. Buckley, MD, Scott & White Hospital, Temple, Texas
  Volunteering: March 29 – April 13, 2008
• Ruth L. Bush, MD, MPH, Scott & White Hospital, Temple, Texas
  Volunteering: Sept. 1-16, 2007
• David V. Cossman, MD, St. John’s Health Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
  Volunteering: May 10-25, 2008
• Ronald M. Fairman, MD, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
  Volunteering: Oct. 20 – Nov. 4, 2007
• Robert W. Feldtman, MD, Scott & White Hospital, Temple, Texas
  Volunteering: March 15-30, 2008
• Nicholas D. Garcia, MD, Exeter Hospital, Exeter, N.H.
  Volunteering: Nov. 3-16, 2007
• George S. Lavenson, Jr., MD, RVT, COL (Ret.), MC,USA, Lahaina, Hawaii
  Volunteering: Dec. 22, 2007 – Jan. 8, 2008
• William Oppat, MD, Comprehensive Vascular and Endovascular Care, Southfield, Mich.
  Volunteering: Oct. 8-21, 2007
• William H. Pearce, MD, McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern, Chicago, Ill.
  Volunteering: Jan. 7-20, 2008
• David Rosenthal, MD, Atlanta Vascular Specialists, Atlanta, Ga.
  Volunteering: May 24 – June 8, 2008
• Daniel S. Rush, MD, Eastern Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tenn.
  Volunteering:  Sept. 25 – Oct. 9, 2007, Feb. 16 – March 2, 2008
• Theodore H. Teruya, MD, Surgical Associates, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii
  Volunteering: Dec. 8-23, 2007
• R. Bradley Thomason, III, MD, Salem Surgical Associates, P.A., Winston-Salem, N.C.
  Volunteering: Nov. 15-27, 2007

“Our members understand how important expert surgeons are to the military in saving the lives and limbs of these young military heroes,” said K. Wayne Johnston, SVS president. “We were contacted by SVS member, Col. David Gillespie, the vascular surgery consultant, Office of the U.S. Army Surgeon General and a professor of surgery at Walter Reed Medical Center, and our members quickly responded. I am proud to represent a specialty that unselfishly contributes where they are needed.”

Injuries incurred in the Iraq war are unique in that they include blast injuries from IEDs (improvised explosive devise) and high-velocity injuries from crashes. Vascular surgeons repair the damaged arteries and veins that are injured as a result of the IEDs by using both minimally invasive and open surgery.