Dear Members and Colleagues,

The 49th annual MVSS meeting was a huge success for Vascular Surgery in Cincinnati. As a Chicagoan and a Cubs fan, it was less of a success when discussing baseball. The Cubs were easily swept by the Reds over 4 nights. The nice part about baseball was that my son came from New York City to join me for the game on Saturday night.

Congratulations to Patrick Muck, MD. His presidential address was delivered beautifully with a powerful message. We are not as safe from a radiation protection standpoint as we should be when performing the complex endovascular work that we do. His message resonated with me in a profound manner, and I am sure that it did for you as well. Also, a huge congratulations to Pat and his family as he celebrated the first family wedding the weekend before MVSS. Quite an emotional journey for Pat over one week.

The scientific program was outstanding. Loay Kabbani, MD did a fantastic job. As the prior secretary, it was nice to see Loay’s success. The secretary role is very demanding and can be daunting to create an educational program. Loay did this very successfully and made it all look very easy with his casual demeanor. Congrats, Loay.

The New Horizon program was fantastic with some outstanding debates. Thank you to Todd Vogel who completed his term as Chair of the New Horizons Committee. The additional program with the APP session and medical student session was amazing as well. Will Robinson led the team for the Simulation sessions and competitions. The simulation event was our largest to date. Congratulations to Todd and Will and all of the members of those committees.

One of my fun responsibilities as the prior President-elect is the selection of an invited guest speaker. I was fortunate to have Jonathan Eig accept my invitation. Jon is a Pulitzer-prize winning biographer who has authored 4 books that have been New York Times best sellers. He spoke for almost 40 minutes without a single slide. And his talk was phenomenal. I am hugely appreciative that he took the time to join us. I know several of you downloaded his Martin Luther King, Jr biography for your drive home. I am sure that you enjoyed it. Especially after hearing him discuss how he completed the research for all of his books.

We elected some new members of the executive council this year. Rachael Nicholson, MD is our new President-Elect. (Rachael – JJ and Trissa will have plenty of fun pictures/videos for your introduction next year. 😊). Jill Colglazier, MD is our new Treasurer. Matthew Smeds, MD was selected as a new Councilor. Congratulations to the three of you. I would like to personally thank Dr. Jeff Jim as he completes a long leadership run with MVSS as he finished his role as Past President. In addition, we have many new committee chairs and committee members. Congratulations to all of you.

I am excited to serve as your President for a milestone event next year. We will celebrate the 50th annual meeting in Chicago at The Drake Hotel from September 17-20, 2026. We are planning a black-tie optional gala event in the amazing ballroom at The Drake. We hope everyone can attend as we celebrate this milestone accomplishment for our society.

It is an honor for me to serve you this year. Please contact me for any suggestions for the continued success and growth of our society. I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Chicago next year!

Sincerely,

Ross Milner, MD
48th President, Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society