Dear Colleagues,
I hope everyone is having a great fall and getting ready for another Canadian winter. It is an honor to write to you as your CSVS president for 2025-2026. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to all our past presidents whose leadership has guided the society’s mission to advance vascular care across Canada. Dr. Kirk Lawlor is our new vice president, and I look forward to working with him over the next year. I would specifically like to recognize Dr. Varun Kapila’s leadership as our president last year. His initiatives, including the Distinguished Lectureship Series and the Canadian Society of Vascular Surgery Hall of Fame will leave a long-lasting legacy.
This year’s annual meeting in Hamilton once again highlighted vascular surgery research in Canada. It is always a pleasure to see our colleagues from across the country. Dr. Ross Naylor from Leicester, England was our guest speaker. He gave two wonderful talks on “Lessons learned from 1000+ carotid endarterectomies” and “W(h)ither carotid endarterectomy?”. I want to thank Dr. Gary Yang, the program chair, and Dr. Robert-James Doonan, assistant program chair, for their work in developing an amazing program for the meeting. Our managing director Alexi, as usual, organized a fantastic meeting. One highlight at the meeting was our first inductee into the Canadian Society of Vascular Surgery Hall of Fame. This award is to recognize a late career Canadian vascular surgeon who has contributed immensely to vascular care and education in Canada. The first inductee is Dr. Thomas Lindsay.
Over the next year, we will continue to work with other societies such as the Canadian Association of Interventional Radiology and the Canadian Society of Vascular Medicine with the common goal of advancing vascular care across the country. The presidents of both societies attended our annual meeting this year.
As we look forward to the next year, we must ensure that the Canadian Society of Vascular Surgery not only leads vascular health in Canada but also provides ongoing education and relevance to all members of our society, whether practicing in academic institutions or in the community. We should be members of the CSVS not just because we are vascular surgeons in Canada, but because the CSVS adds to our practice of vascular surgery. Over the next year we will continue to have a national journal club and continue the Distinguished Lectureship Series. We look forward to the next winter meeting in Mont-Tremblant, February 25-27, 2026. Preparations are underway for our next annual meeting in Banff from October 3-5, where we will showcase vascular research and plan to include educational sessions for our members during the meeting.
In conclusion, I will work together with vice president Dr. Lawlor and our executive as we continue to advance vascular surgery in Canada and strengthen the CSVS community.
Best Wishes,
Greg Harding. M.D.
President, Canadian Society of Vascular Surgery
