UA Department of Surgery Announces New Vascular Surgery Residency Program
September 01, 2009
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Division of Vascular Surgery in The University of Arizona Department of Surgery is one of the first 19 sites in the nation to receive full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for a primary five-year vascular surgery residency program.
The University of Arizona and Stanford University are the only two ACGME-accredited programs west of the Mississippi, and the UA is the only accredited site for vascular and endovascular surgery training in the entire Southwest.
Since 1982, the American Board of Surgery (ABS) has offered a certificate in vascular surgery that required initial completion of a five-year residency in general surgery followed by two years of focused training in vascular surgery (5-2 pathway). The UA has had a highly successful two-year vascular surgery fellowship program since 1983, and was one of the first such programs in the nation to receive accreditation.
In 2005, the vascular surgery specialty received recognition from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) as a primary specialty, rather than a subspecialty. This ABMS approval recognized the maturation of vascular surgery as a distinct specialty over the last 40 years and permitted development of vascular surgery residency training paradigms that did not require preliminary training and certification in general surgery.
“This exciting new paradigm allows us to accept candidates for training directly out of medical school. This change was essential to meet the growing need for vascular surgeons anticipated during the next 20 years,” explained Joseph L. Mills Sr., MD, UA professor of surgery and vascular surgery chief. He said vascular surgeons will be needed, not only to cope with today’s level of vascular disease, but also to deal with an increase in vascular disease as a result of the aging baby-boomer population, the continuing epidemic of obesity and the increasing incidence of diabetes.
“Approximately 100 vascular surgeons are currently trained and certified yearly; projections indicate this number will need to nearly double to meet societal needs,” he said. “The 0-5 vascular residency pathway is designed to shorten the overall duration of training and to allow trainees to focus their learning on the rapidly evolving minimally invasive techniques within vascular surgery,” added Dr. Mills, who is currently president of the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS), a director of the American Board of Surgery and will begin a three-year term as the head of the Vascular Surgery Board (VSB) of the ABS in 2010.
“Vascular surgery is the only specialty that offers comprehensive care for patients with peripheral vascular disease – care that includes non-invasive diagnosis, medical management, minimally invasive endovascular therapy and open surgical reconstruction,” he said.
The five-year program participates in the National Residency Matching Program. Janice Thai, MD, a distinguished 2009 graduate of Stony Brook University School of Medicine, New York, became the first 0-5 resident in the UA program on July 1. The program will continue to accept one resident per year. The UA Vascular Program also will continue to train 5-2 pathway trainees, but most trainees are expected eventually to participate in the vascular-only 0-5 pathway.
Four other ACGME-accredited residency programs are offered in the UA Department of Surgery: general surgery, urology, neurosurgery and cardiothoracic surgery. The ACGME awards accreditation for the nation's residency programs, in which doctors spend years of intense preparation in a specialty.
“The mission of the new Vascular Surgery Residency Program, and all of the residency training programs in the Department of Surgery, is to produce the next generation of surgeons who will become leaders in their field,” said Rainer Gruessner, MD, UA Department of Surgery chairman.