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2007 Annual Report

 

2007 AVA Annual Report 

Dear Colleague:

You may not know that the AVA, while it is a relatively small foundation, is actually
a national leader in developing young researchers. Vascular surgery was the very
first surgical specialty to partner with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on
career development awards, and is the envy of many other specialties that do not
have this special relationship with the NIH.

While NIH-sponsored bench research may seem remote from your day-to-day
practice, I think you would be surprised and pleased at the new focus of the NIH and
AVA on translational research and on patient-oriented outcomes research. Investing
in both types of research is an essential foundation of any surgical specialty, and one
way that vascular surgery can differentiate itself from other specialties.

While we are proud of the fact that 90 percent of the AVA’s operating budget goes
directly to support research awards for medical students, residents and the joint
NIH program, in reality, every year we are operating at the break-even point. This
means we have nothing to invest into new worthwhile programs and we lack the
resources to build the endowment funds that would support our larger awards into
the future.

Our challenge is that we are a small specialty. We need support from virtually every
vascular surgeon in North America to continue our work. But this is doable— if each
member of the SVS contributes only $500, we will raise more than $1 million. AVA
welcomes annual giving, multi-year pledges, gifts of stock and planned giving from
your estate.

Please read this 2007 AVA annual report outlining the foundation’s accomplishments
in more detail. The report includes a contribution form, which I hope you will
complete today. Your tax-deductible contribution will help ensure that the best and
brightest young vascular surgeons have the means to advance treatments for our
patients—and help keep vascular surgery competitive.


Sincerely,
William H. Pearce, MD
Chair, AVA