A Message from the Chief

Division of Vascular Surgery

The Division of Vascular Surgery provides comprehensive open and minimal-access vascular services to patients within our region. The faculty have pioneered many firsts in our field and are dedicated to the mission of exceptional care, discovery, and training the next generation of surgeons. The diverse backgrounds and clinical expertise of our group enable us to meet the ever-expanding needs of the patients we serve.

Highlights

With the addition of Rachad Wehbe, MD, our group now comprises 10 faculty members serving 5 clinic locations and 9 procedural sites of service. We are pleased to expand our services to the newest hospital in the UR system, Geneva General Hospital. Last year, the group performed over 2500 OR procedural cases and almost 600 clinic-based procedures, representing an 8% growth from the prior year. With this volume increase, the program continues to maintain a 3-star VQI rating, making us the longest continually ranked program of its kind in the state. Increased surgical volume has allowed us to increase our training complement to 10 integrated vascular residents under the program directorship of Adam Doyle, MD. The program is anchored by several key clinical programs:

• Our minimal-access carotid revascularization program is the largest Vascular Surgery-based program in the northeast, with almost 600 Transcarotid Revascularization (TCAR) cases to date. Our procedural optimization and academic work helped evolve TCAR for high-risk patients. This included a technical modification to incorporate nominal-sized pre-stent balloon angioplasty, often referred to as the “Rochester technique.”
• Recognizing the regional market need for a minimal-access complex aortic surgery program, Doran Mix, MD, and Grayson Pitcher, MD, lead the endovascular thoracoabdominal aortic program. To date, over 60 patients have been treated with either industry-sponsored IDE devices or surgeon-modified custom grafts, with TALE rates comparable to other referral programs. This is the only such program in the state outside of New York City.
• We have developed the only Vascular Acute Care Surgery (VACS) program in New York to meet the ever-increasing urgent and emergent patient needs, which now encompass 65% of the vascular surgery volume at Strong Memorial Hospital. We have published on the wellness, clinical, and operational advantages of this service organization.
• Our group has the only academic IAC-accredited Vein Center in the state of New York, directed by Jennifer Ellis, MD. With strong integration into the national VQI database, our site is a national leader in high-quality, evidence-based inpatient and outpatient vein care. We have pioneered automated extraction of large language models from clinical data to facilitate registry compliance and work closely with the national patient safety organization to disseminate this knowledge.

Our group continues to make impactful contributions to the science of vascular surgery. Last year, faculty and residents authored 26 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 4 book chapters, and delivered 49 podium presentations. Karina Newhall, MD, and Josh Geiger, MD (res), obtained new grant funding to study machine learning analysis of carotid ultrasounds and the role of the microbiome in aneurysm formation, respectively.

Service to the community and the development of novel patient education and outreach have become priorities as we seek to address disparities in care for the chronic diseases we treat. Alaska Pendleton, MD, has developed unique and fruitful partnerships with community leaders. Through a novel synergy with other UR outreach programs, screening and education regarding peripheral arterial disease are being brought to the communities and patients we serve.

The division is proud of the heritage that Rochester Vascular Surgery represents and continues to innovate and deliver with the spirit of Meliora. We look forward to welcoming our alumni back to campus in 2027 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our venerated program.

Michael C. Stoner, MD, RVT, FACS, DFSVS
Professor of Surgery; Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery; Vice Chair for Clinical Operations