Newswise — The Vascular Disease Foundation (VDF) presented its annual awards at the organization’s sixth annual meeting in Washington, DC. The awards honor the work of citizens, health care providers, organizations, researchers and companies that have enhancing the understanding and/or treatment of peripheral vascular diseases.
The prestigious Julius H. Jacobson II MD Award for Physician Excellence which recognizes outstanding contributions to physician education, leadership, or patient care in vascular disease was presented to Jess Young, MD.
One of the pioneers of vascular medicine and a premier educator in the field who trained an entire generation of vascular medicine fellows, Dr Young represents the pinnacle of education, leadership, and scholarly activity. Young was pivotal in establishing the vascular diagnostic laboratory in 1977, and was a founding member of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL) and the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology. Perhaps one of the greatest visions by Dr. Young was the establishment of the first multi-specialty vascular intervention programs in the United States in the early 1990s. Young served as primary editor for the first edition of “A Textbook of Peripheral Vascular Disease,” which remains one of the finest clinical textbooks of its kind.
The VDF’s President’s Awards are given to recognize individuals who have assisted the Foundation in accomplishing its mission to improve health for all by reducing death and disability from vascular disease. According to Anton Sidawy, MD, president of the Foundation, “These awards Vision, Leadership, Inspiration and Partnership show our appreciation for the extraordinary efforts to support the Foundation’s efforts to increase awareness of vascular diseases and enhance patient lives.” The awards were given to Alan T. Hirsch, MD for Vision, to Mark A. Creager, MD for Leadership, to Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD for Inspiration and award for Partnership to Cordis Corporation.
Hirsch, MD is a professor Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and director of the Vascular Medicine Program at the Minneapolis Heart Institute; medical director of Abbott Northwestern Hospital’s Vascular Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Hirsch was the first president of the Vascular Disease Foundation, serving from October 2000 to April 2003. He led the effort to make the VDF an interdisciplinary organization and chairs the P.A.D. Coalition, which co-developed the national “PAD Public Awareness Campaign” with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. His vision enable the Foundation to grow and broaden to where it has served over 14 million Americans and currently represents two million members through its collaborative P.A.D. Coalition and Venous Disease Coalition organizations.
Creager, MD is professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, the Simon C. Fireman Scholar in Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and director of the Vascular Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Dr. Creager is past president and master of the society for Vascular Medicine, and a fellow of the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Physiological Society. During his recent tenure as president of the Vascular Disease Foundation, Dr. Creager showed leadership by enhancing the organization’s structure and developing the organization’s strategic plan.
Nabel, MD is director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under her direction, NHLBI created the national awareness campaign, “Stay in Circulation: Take Steps to Learn About P.A.D.” with the Foundation’s P.A.D. Coalition. The campaign is a multi-year effort to raise public awareness and clinician awareness about this disease which affects 8 to 12 million Americans. Dr. Nabel also supported the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism. Her efforts to fund research and education of vascular diseases is inspirational to the millions of Americans affected by these diseases. NHLBI is the primary agency within the NIH that is responsible for promoting research leading to improved diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases.
Cordis Corporation, a Johnson and Johnson company, was presented with the President’s Award for Partnership. This award recognizes a group that has worked closely with the Foundation to further its mission. Cordis Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of stents, catheters and other products for interventional medicine, has partnered with the Foundation since 2004. Joint efforts have focused on educating the health care community about evidence-based diagnostic and treatment strategies to improve survival rates and quality of life for patients with peripheral arterial disease (P.A.D.). Cordis Corporation has also been an ardent supporter of the Foundation’s national efforts to increase public awareness of P.A.D. and was instrumental in the launch of the P.A.D. Education Network, a program providing P.A.D. clinical practice tools and patient resources to hospitals and clinics.
About the Vascular Disease FoundationThe Vascular Disease Foundation is the only national organization with the sole purpose of educating the public about vascular diseases. It is the most trusted source of credible, scientific and non-biased information on vascular diseases. For more information, call 888.VDF.4INFO (888.833.4463) or visit our Web site, www.vdf.org
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