President's Message, June 2011
 |
|
Dileep Yavagal, M.D. |
Dear SVIN Members,
As we begin the term of the third team executive officers of SVIN, I would like to thank all of you for giving me the extraordinary privilege to serve as your President for the next two years. I take this opportunity you have given me with tremendous excitement as well as a humble acknowledgment of the trust that you have placed in me to lead our fledgling society.
Accomplishments and New Beginnings
SVIN has just completed an unbelievably productive and eventful three years under the exemplary leadership of Dr. Osama (Sam) Zaidat. I congratulate Sam on his numerous noteworthy accomplishments for SVIN during his term and thank him for his unending commitment to our society. A list of Sam’s achievements for SVIN would be too long to enumerate, but one of his key successes has been to lead SVIN to financial security for the next few years. With his vision and leadership, SVIN, a 503(C) non-profit organization, has obtained financial support that allows our day-to-day functioning and sustains our growth. While, we must continue to strengthen our financial foundation, we can plan for our present and future finances without immediate anxieties due to Sam and his team’s work over the last three years.
I also want to heartily congratulate my new SVIN co-officers, including our President-Elect, Tudor Jovin, Secretary, Rishi Gupta, and Treasurer, Andrew Xavier, on their election. They are not only amazingly accomplished individuals, but also form a team with great synergy. Sam remains on the executive committee as Past-President where we can draw on his tremendous experience and wise counsel.
I feel extremely fortunate to work with this fantastic team in leading SVIN. You will also be happy to know that the SVIN board made the bold decision to expand its membership to the fully allowed capacity of 20 members. This move affirms SVIN’s commitment to increasing representation on the Board for Vascular Neurologists as well as the rapidly growing Interventional Neurology membership. The addition of new board members will bring increased leadership capabilities to SVIN as we pursue a growing number of initiatives.
In addition, I am delighted to welcome our new editor of the “The Core”: Thanh Nguyen! She brings unparalleled enthusiasm, tremendous writing skills and wisdom beyond her years to our newsletter. I am sure that you will eagerly anticipate the newsletters to come under her leadership and she welcomes your contributions.
SVIN Marches Forward
A casual observer may surmise that SVIN exists to safeguard the interests of Interventional and Vascular Neurologists. However, our reasons for existence go far beyond collective self interest. As stated in our mission, one of the critical functions of SVIN is to bring together individuals with similar vision of how to benefit the neurovascular patient. SVIN allows us to focus our collective expertise, energy, and commitment on advancing the field of neuroendovascular therapy. This consolidation of our energies in SVIN has already led to promising accomplishments and holds unparalleled potential in advancing clinical practice, delivery of care and research in this new field. Over the next two years, my goal is to provide the leadership that will allow SVIN to become a leader in the field of Ischemic Stroke Intervention. Together, we can claim the preeminent position in this rapidly advancing field by establishing the highest standards of clinical practice, by supporting the seeds of cutting edge, innovative research, and by continually educating ourselves and other practitioners so that we achieve better patient outcomes.
SVIN has already had an impact on the clinical practice of endovascular ischemic stroke therapy. Most of us are leaders in our individual communities in the interventional treatment of acute ischemic stroke. SVIN has facilitated the pooling of our shared clinical expertiseto set the highest standards for delivery of such care at the national level. Last year, the American Stroke Association-American Heart Association (ASA-AHA) invited us to endorse the landmark guidelines for Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) metrics (1) recognizing SVIN’s important stake in such a certification. On May 11th, 2011, The Joint Commission invited SVIN to send experts to the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) that is developing an advanced certification program for comprehensive stroke centers, again recognizing the alliance of our mission to the formulation of CSC certification guidelines. One of the newest goals of SVIN that excites me greatly is our goal to develop standards for Neuroangiography suites performing intraarterial thrombolysis for acute stroke. I invite you to contribute your energies to this critical initiative by contacting the task force leader for this initiative, Dr. Vallabh Janardhan (drvallabh@yahoo.com). Our goal is to publish much needed standards for angiography suites to achieve the best patient outcomes. I am determined to devote SVIN resources to developing other new practice guidelines and encourage each of you to contact me personally with your ideas to consolidate our leadership position in ischemic stroke interventional practice. SVIN’s Commitment to Neuroendovascular Research In collaboration with St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, SVIN has created a well-organized, internally funded, internet-based research consortium: SVIN Research Consortium (SVINRC). The goal of the SVIN-RC is to promote the strongest possible collaboration between SVIN members needed to conquer new scientific frontiers in this young field. I would like to congratulate Dr. Randy Edgell, who leads the SVIN-RC, on successfully completing the first SVIN-RC study: the largest multicenter case series of vertebral artery stenting. Late last year, the SVIN board voted to allocate $ 30,000.00 annually to fund an SVIN competitive seed-grant program (SVIN CSGP) for SVIN members that allows for funding of two research projects. SVIN-RC and SVIN-C SGP are poised to allow SVIN investigators to pursue initial critical research that can lead to external funding. While retrospective studies are currently the easiest to get started, as the SVIN-RC grows, our goal is to work towards prospective studies in SVIN-RC. I am fully committed to supporting the SVIN-RC in accomplishing a prospective registry study within the next two years and publication of at least two studies supported by SVIN-RC over the next two years. Recently, a new initiative to create a SVIN clinical trial network under the umbrella of SVINRC has been proposed. The SVIN-RC will be reaching out to invite your site to participate in this important network. I am sure you will agree that clinical research by SVIN-RC has tremendous potential for high impact on our field due to its multicenter nature, and the large number and results of multiple contributors. Such an impact could be expected due to the importance of similar consortium-based research, most notably by oncologic societies in North America. I strongly urge you to participate in SVIN-RC research in addition to your individual research initiatives.
SVIN Educates with Aplomb
SVIN has completed three fabulously successful annual meetings since 2007 and a muchhailed first SVIN Practicum in 2010. Our meeting is now an eagerly awaited fixture on the industry and practitioner meeting calendar. This success is a testament to the devotion and commitment of SVIN members and leaders to disseminating the best knowledge in neuroendovascular therapy. Our upcoming Fourth SVIN Annual Meeting, chaired by Raul Nogueira, promises to top the successes of previous meetings. I look forward to seeing all of you at the meeting at the Westin in Hollywood, Florida on October 21st-23rd.
All of us share the privilege of being practitioners of the amazing craft of Interventional Neurology. In return for this privilege, we are committed to giving back to the field with all our energies. As comrades in SVIN, we will advance our craft for the benefit of our patients. Please join me as SVIN marches ahead!
Sincerely,
Dileep Yavagal, MD SVIN President