DGMC vascular team takes first place honors

  • Published
  • By Merrie Schilter-Lowe
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – A team from David Grant USAF Medical Center and the University of California at Davis, California, integrated vascular resident program competed against some of the best known schools in the nation June 15 at the Pacific Northwest Endovascular Conference in Seattle, Washington, and walked away with first-place honors. 

Team members demonstrated their surgical skills and knowledge against 14 other teams, including the University of Washington in Seattle; Stanford University in Stanford, California; Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and, for the first time, an all-star team of trainees from China. 

“We went head-to-head against some very well-established programs with better name recognition and prevailed,” said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Shaun Gifford, 60th Medical Group at Travis Air Force Base, California, vascular surgery resident program associate director.

The PNEC is an annual event designed to provide educational programs focused on the latest technologies and techniques in vascular and endovascular surgery. Winning first place in the competition is a testament to the strength of DGMC’s and UC Davis’s integrated vascular resident training program, educational staff and residents, said Gifford. 

“Most often, meetings are based solely on research,” he said.  “This competition highlights the other areas of our profession, which deals with the performance of complex procedures.” 

Competitive events included simulating open vascular surgery, treating an abdominal aortic aneurysm using a computer-based simulator and reviewing and interpreting images to determine appropriate treatment methods.  Teams also demonstrated their knowledge of vascular diseases and treatments in a timed event. 

The DGMC and UC Davis team spent months preparing for the competition, said Gifford. 

“Their preparation was evident in their breakaway winning score,” he said.

Each year, the integrated vascular surgery resident program – which began in 2012 – accepts one military and one civilian resident.  It is the only vascular surgery resident program in the country for active-duty military trainees, said Gifford. 

Members of this year’s team were: Capt. (Dr.) Joel Harding, Maj. (Dr.) Jeremy Bolin, Dr. Cole Nishikawa and Dr. Samantha Stradleigh, chief of residents.  Gifford and Air Force Reserve Col. (Dr.) David Dawson, UC Davis professor of surgery, supported the team. 

A DGMC and UC Davis integrated team has participated in the PNEC since 2012, but this year is the first time they have come in first.  

"Our program has an outstanding group of vascular surgery residents,” said Dawson.  “They are smart, motivated, and engaged, and used to holding themselves to a higher standard.  I am delighted with their first-place win, but not at all surprised."