Anthony Comerota, of the Inova Medical Group, Alexandria, USA, received the career achievement award at the 31st International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET; 27-30 January 2019, Hollywood, USA).
Speaking to Vascular News, Comerota expressed his gratitude: “This is one of the greatest honours that one can be given. This meeting, ISET, is one of the elite educational programmes in the world, and to be recognised by the directors of ISET, and to be given a career achievement award obviously is exceptionally special, and an enormous honour. I am eternally grateful.”
When asked how the meeting had shaped his career, Comerota said: “I do not know that there is a better meeting that addresses the current issue of vascular disease from all specialities, from medical management, to interventional management, surgical management—it covers all the bases. So it is a wonderful investment of time, and it is a wonderful educational experience.”
Recipients of the career achievement award is voted on by the ISET programme directors. In his introduction, Barry Katzen (Miami, USA) says that ISET has been awarding the award for approximately 25 years.
Born in Newark, USA, Comerota was the director of Vascular Services at Temple University Health System, Philadelphia, USA, and was professor of surgery from 1989 to 2002 and chief of Section of Vascular Surgery from 1984 to 2002. He then moved to Toledo, USA, to the Jobst Vascular Institute, where he was director from 2002 to 2006. He was also an investigator of the ATTRACT trial. Comerota has previously been profiled by Vascular News.
Described by Katzen as “an academic giant”, Comerota is a journal reviewer in over 15 high impact, peer-reviewed journals, and has trained 46 fellows in Vascular Surgery.
Comerota was an early adopter of multidisciplinary models and collaborative practice, and was one of the first to work closely with interventional radiology. In his speech, Katzen told the ISET audience how Comerota pioneered venous research, diagnostics, surgery, and endovascular therapy.
Katzen finished by saying: “I have done a lot of introductions, and it is very hard to do justice to a man of his distinction and character. It is a great honour to recognise such a man with this career achievement award.”
