Dear Members and Colleagues,

I am humbled and honored to serve as the 47^th President of the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society. I remember fondly how welcoming, collegial and friendly the members of the society were when I attended my first meeting presenting research as a vascular surgery fellow in Chicago in 2009. Through the years, I have enjoyed the benefits of being a member of our society and have developed a strong network of colleagues and dear friends in the region.

Before we look forward, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past year. President Raghu Motaganahalli led the charge and emphasized the importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our society. We just concluded our Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I want to thank all the members who joined us in making this one of the most well attended Annual Meetings in history. I want to acknowledge Past-President Ash Mansour, Dr. Robert Cuff and their colleagues for their hospitality in welcoming us to their beautiful city. Of course, I have to show appreciation to our Secretary and Program Chair, Dr. Ross Milner, who developed a wonderful program and most importantly, kept us on task and on time during the meeting. And finally, I cannot express adequately all our appreciation to Angela Wetherbee and her Administrare team for making everything just so easy!

For this coming year, I pledge to continue on the efforts of our past presidents, focusing on engagement with our members with a focus on education and inclusivity. The Society will continue with our popular New Horizons Webinar program, with six session scheduled throughout this coming year. This is a wonderful opportunity to log in and learn about various vascular surgical disease processes from our peers within the society. For medical students, we will continue with educational programs dedicated to attracting the best and the brightest to our specialty. For our surgical trainees, we hope to expand our simulation and virtual Mock Oral Examination program to make it more widely available. In addition, we will continue to develop new programs targeting all aspects of our membership.

I cannot agree more with my predecessor’s insight that “our society derives its strength from its membership.” I encourage all member to appeal to their students, trainees, nurses/advanced practice providers, partners, colleagues and friends within the Midwest to apply for membership. To conclude, I want to remind everyone to “save the date” for our 2023 Annual Meeting. The event will take place September 7^th to 9^th in Minneapolis.

I thank you again for the opportunity to serve as your President. I welcome any input you may have to help me better shape our society to serve its members. I wish you health and well-being and look forward to interacting with everyone throughout the year.

Sincerely and best regards,

Jeffrey Jim, MD, MPHS, FACS
47th President, Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society