VASCULAR FORUM: Educational Forum for Students, Residents, and Fellows

Trainees in accredited programs related to the care of patients with vascular disease are invited to submit abstracts to be considered for the Vascular Forum session of the Strandness Symposium which will be held February 11-15, 2024, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Purpose and Eligibility

The Vascular Forum is the Strandness Symposium program for trainees pursuing careers related to the care of patients with vascular disease. First introduced with the Vascular Care program in 2012, the Vascular Forum program is open to medical students and physicians in training, including residents and fellows in vascular or general surgery, radiology, and cardiology.

Vascular Forum Participant Support

Refundable registration for the Strandness Symposium program is offered to any student, resident, or fellow in an accredited training program. Written confirmation of trainees’ status is required (from dean, course director, program director, or equivalent school official).

Trainees are invited to submit abstracts for presentation in the Vascular Forum program. Support for travel and lodging for the meeting will be provided to the Vascular Forum participants who have abstracts selected for oral presentation.

To be eligible for lodging and travel support, trainees from states other than Hawaii must also provide confirmation that permission is granted for their participation and attendance through the dates of the program, February 11-15, 2024.

Abstract Requirements

• Topic related to diagnosis or care of vascular disease, including clinical or basic science topics.
• Case report presentation will be considered.
• The abstract should be brief (maximum of 300 words in the body of the abstract). Abstracts must also include the title, authors’ names, institution and contact information. In most cases, the sections of the abstract will include 1. Introduction, 2. Methods, 3. Results, and 4. Conclusion.
• Previously presented, but unpublished works will be considered.

Abstract Submission

• The submission process is now closed. All notifications have been sent to primary authors.

Abstract Review

• The review committee will include John G. Carson, Jake Hemingway, Meryl S. Logan and Niten Singh.
• Consideration may be given to ensure diversity in content and perspective, to include submissions from residents, fellows, medical students considering training in a field specific to vascular care, vascular sonography students, and graduate nursing students.

Acceptance and Meeting Registration

• Notifications of acceptance will be sent by email by November 10, 2023.
• Presenters must complete meeting registration within 14 days of notification.
• All students, residents, and fellows must register online and pay a refundable deposit amount of $250. This amount will not be refunded for no-shows or cancellations under 30 days.
• If invited Vascular Forum presenters do not register within 14 days, the invitation may be withdrawn and provided to another.
• PowerPoint versions of the presentation must be submitted in advance of the program and must be received by January 19, 2024.
• Abstracts not accepted for oral presentation may be presented as a poster presentation. For those interested, there will be an option on the abstract submission application.

Presentation Session

Vascular Forum presentations are intended to be rapid paced, limited to five minutes each, with additional time allocated for discussion.

The Vascular Forum starts with a morning session on RPVI Prep followed by an afternoon presentation session on the first day of the conference, Sunday, February 11, 2024. Selected presentations (case studies, clinical research, or abstracts on other topics related to the conference themes) will be presented. Presenters will compete for awards, which will be presented at the Monday evening program.

Judging Criteria

The purpose of the competition is to provide residents and fellows an opportunity to demonstrate their effectiveness as communicators.

Presenters will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Quality of the oral presentation,
2. Effectiveness of the media used (slides may include text, graphics, images, and videos),
3. Organization and development of concepts being presented,
4. Ability to effectively defend the management plan by responding to questions posed by the panel, and
5. The level of complexity of the topic presented considering the level of training of the presenter.  The presentation is limited to five (5) minutes, followed by a three (3) minute question and answer session, open to the judging panel and the audience.

Evening Vascular Forum Program

The Vascular Forum dinner program and awards presentation will be on Monday, February 12, 2024. While the content of this session targets the learning and professional development needs of students, residents, and fellows, the session is open to all meeting attendees, by subscription. The session will include didactic content and discussion.

Simulation and Skills Competition

In addition to the CME program, additional educational content will be scheduled for students, residents and fellows. This will include hands-on and didactic sessions, as well as a fun, interactive Jeopardy competition!

Meals

Meals provided by the conference include continental breakfasts on meeting days. In addition, food is provided at the Welcome Reception on Sunday, the Vascular Forum dinner on Monday, and non-CME breakfast and luncheon seminars presented by industry.

Travel and Lodging

Travel and lodging support will be offered to vascular forum participants pending confirmation of grant support.  More information related to financial support will follow.  Eligibility for the travel stipend requires participation in the trainee educational activities outlined above (Evening vascular forum program, simulation and skills competition; industry satellite sessions).

Sources of Support

The Vascular Forum program is presented by Behind the Scenes, a Medical Education Company.  The Strandness Symposium 2024 meeting is self-supporting, through registration fees, educational grant support from commercial and non-commercial sources, and exhibitor fees from Diamond Head tier supporters.