Vein Specialist

Table of contents

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Steve Elias, MD 

EXECUTIVE EDITOR
John Forbes, MBA 

MANAGING EDITOR
Allison DeGroff 

COVER ARTIST
Christine Rataj

PUBLICATION DESIGNER
Anthony Eaves

Only a select few in the world collect really expensive art. Art collecting is not a hobby; it’s a passion. Hubert Neumann collects art. And he has passion. Some of his family collect art and some of his family don’t. That’s the problem.  The February 3, 2024 issue of WSJ Magazine chronicled the sad and convoluted tale of his family’s travails. His art collection is worth more than a billion dollars. We all should have such problems. He owns a Jean Paul Basquiat, Flesh Spirit, which he bought in 1983 for $15,000. It’s now worth $40 million. He has 3 daughters and one estranged wife (now dead). No one gets along and money is involved. A recipe for disaster. A big mess.

AVF’s recent annual meeting was a recipe for success; no mess. This issue of Vein Specialist highlights our meeting. A lot of the usual happened as well as some new events, sessions, awards, etc. Our contributors in this issue all had a part in the meeting.

You should appreciate the breadth and diversity of topics. A lot was already happening on Saturday and Sunday before the main meeting began: Day of Service, PIT course, APP course, and more. The meeting had innovations such as new sessions, The Doctors Lounge, and the Case Competition. Read about these and much more that occurred. Understand the success of the society you are part of.

And try to understand the mess 92-year-old Hubert Neumann and his family are in. Hubert and his wife Dolores collected art for years. Then they got divorced. Then she died. Divorce does strange things to otherwise reasonable people. Some of you may have experienced this. Dolores unequally bequeathed her part of the collection to her 3 daughters. Some got a lot; some got a little. This divided the family. No one knows why she did it. She created mayhem among the Neumann clan. She knew she would. Selfish. Clearly, she had some hidden anger at all of them. My guess is mostly at Hubert. Now there is infighting and Hubert doesn’t have much time to make it right. He is 92. His daughters are fighting; lawyers are fighting; and no one is happy except maybe Dolores. Hubert appreciates art, Dolores didn’t. For her it was only about the money and the subsequent mayhem. Artists and real art collectors have passion for what they do. Like the passion for vein care that we have. Like the passion exhibited at our meeting. The Neumann family is divided. The AVF family is united. Our annual meeting is the culmination each year of this, and Vein Specialist documents it. This year is no exception. Enjoy this issue and be happy you’re not a Neumann.  

One of the highlights of the annual meeting of the American Venous Forum is the Strandness Lecture. At VENOUS2025, the keynote speaker was Joanne Lohr, MD, whose talk was entitled Venous – On the Shoulders of Giants!! In her fascinating talk, she gave a thorough history of the American Venous Forum, showed archived letters of its founding, the inaugural members, and past presidents. The AVF was founded in 1987 by a group of venous experts and pioneers in vascular surgery and phlebology. This group grew its membership in the next decades hosting annual meetings that became the premier platform for presenting venous and lymphatic disease research. Guideline development; education; advanced research on deep venous thrombosis, chronic venous insufficiency and varicose veins; as well as policy and advocacy efforts soon followed. The Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders became the official AVF journal so that members and others are provided a platform for publishing cutting-edge venous research. And as presented by Dr Lohr, the AVF has continued to drive innovation to advance treatments and collaborate with global venous societies to improve venous care worldwide.

Dr Lohr, originally from rural Wisconsin and now practicing in Columbia, SC, has been a mentor and sponsor to many members, trainees, and early career physicians. She is a Past-President of the AVF and SVS, serving as the 1st woman president of both organizations. She practiced general and vascular surgery in Ohio for 30+ years and has been at the Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, SC since 2019. She has trained dozens of students, residents, and fellows.

A statement form Dr. Lohr:

“I try to role model positivity and lifelong learning to all who I cross paths with.  I continue to advocate for my patients and my peers on a variety of levels.  The barriers that I encountered early in my career are decreasing for the current trainees. It is with great pride that I see them succeed.  My only regret is that I am not at the beginning of my career.”

This lectureship is named after the late Dr. Gene Strandness (1928-2002) who was influential in the development of Doppler ultrasound as a diagnostic tool in vascular medicine, and he led the development of the clinical grading criteria for vascular ultrasound.

VENOUS2025 was a huge success! One of the many great highlights includes the amazing awards received by very deserving individuals. Each of the following awards is very competitive as the best-of-the-best are considered. Our society, together with key industry partners, invests in research to further knowledge that better serves our patients.

The 2025 AVF Basic Science Grant Award Winner is Aatira Vijay, PhD, forAnti-CCR2 Nanotherapeutics to Reduce Vein Wall Fibrosis Following Deep Vein Thrombosis. Congratulations, Dr. Vijay!

AVF has partnered with Juzo to award not one, but two, doctors who have contributed extensively to venous research. We congratulate both Eri Fukaya, MD, PhD, and Sarah Onida, MD, PhD, who are the recipients of the 2025 AVF-Juzo Traveling Fellowship Award. These two researchers will travel to venous experts around the world to learn more about their areas of interest.

AVF has a long-standing relationship with Jobst to award a deserving recipient the 2025 AVF-JOBST Clinical Research Grant Award Winner. We congratulate Andrew Huang, MD for pursuing his research entitled Novel Imaging Techniques for Visualization and Quantification of Pelvic Venous Flow. The 2025 AVF-BSCI Translational Research Grant is an exciting new grant that was awarded to Katherine Hekman, MD, PhD for her research entitled Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Lymphatic Endothelial Cells to treat Phlebolymphedema. We congratulate Dr. Hekman!

The AVF Case Competition was a huge success this year. Many great cases and interesting discussion! Congratulations to first place winner Andrew Huang, MD for Reversing Axial Reflux Through Weight Loss. This year’s second place winner in the AVF Case Competition was Eni Nako, MD for When All Else Fails, Properly Placed Multilayer Compression Remains Paramount to Healing Recalcitrant Venous Leg Ulcers. Congratulations!

We congratulate the team winning first place in the first-ever AVF Case Competition, Andrew Huang, MD, Enzo Borzellino, MD, Ching Ya Huang, MD, and Luke Perry, MD.

A yearly favorite is the poster presentation session. Each year a first- and second-place winner are chosen. The 2025 Top Poster Winner is Cassandra Kupniewski, RVT for her presentation Identify Venous Duplex Flow Parameters to Define Pulsatility.. Robert Attaran, MD is the 2025 2^nd Place Poster Winner for his presentation “Correlation of Venous Symptoms and Saphenous Vein Pressure as Measured by the VeinPress Device in Patients with Reflux. Congratulations to both!

The 2025 1^st Place Abstract Winner for the top oral presentation was awarded to Rashad Bishara, MD, RPVI, FRCS for his presentation A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Ultrasound-guided Foam Sclerotherapy in Venous Leg Ulcers. Congratulations to Dr Bishara! The 2025 2^nd Place Abstract Winner was awarded to Aatira Vijay, PhD for the presentation Sex-specific Assessment of Acetylsalicylic Acid on Thrombogenesis and Vein Wall Injury in Experimental DVT, and Secondary DVT Prevention Patients.

This year, under the leadership of the President of the AVF, Dr. Ruth Bush began a new tradition. She gave 4 presidential citations to 4 individuals involved in AVF who carry forward the mission of the AVF. These recipients are Misaki Kiguchi, MD, Kathleen Ozsvath, MD, Susan Smith, and Steve Elias, MD.

These awards are prestigious and have been awarded to true leaders. We congratulate you all and look forward to your work at future AVF annual meetings.