NESVS President
Dr. Robert Cambria
Northern Light Health/Eastern Maine Medical Car
Bangor, ME
Dr. Robert Cambria specializes in all aspects of open and endovascular arterial surgery. This includes intervention directed at the carotid arteries to prevent stroke, procedures to repair aneurysms involving the aorta or peripheral arteries, endovascular and open procedures to improve blood flow to the extremities, and procedures to establish dialysis access for patients requiring kidney replacement therapy.
After attending medical school at Tufts University, completing general surgery residency in New Jersey, and vascular surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Cambria worked for 10 years in Wisconsin before moving to Bangor to become the medical director of the Northern Light Vascular Care unit in 2005. Since that time, he has been dedicated to developing the vascular program at Eastern Maine Medical Center. The practice has grown to the point where we now have six surgeons and six advanced practice professionals who deliver highest quality care for all aspects of vascular disease. In addition, Dr. Cambria has worked to bring this care closer to his patients. The practice now sees patients in Waterville, Presque Isle, and Ellsworth in addition to their Bangor location.
When not at work, Dr. Cambria enjoys fishing as a means of relaxation, as well as an excuse to explore the unlimited beauty of Maine’s rivers, streams, lakes and coast.
Founding of the NESVS
During the years following World War II and the Korean War, the specialty of peripheral vascular surgery was born. It was baptized by the founding of the Society for Vascular Surgery with its inaugural meetings in 1947, and by that of the International Cardiovascular Society in 1952. During the two decades thereafter, surgeons enlisted in the specialty in growing numbers, but until the late 1960’s there were relatively few training programs. Inevitably, the first to enter the field had to invent new techniques, adapt instruments and techniques from general surgery and transmit their skills to generations of younger colleagues, but many years passed before there were adequate numbers of trained, skilled surgeons around the country to meet demands. Of particular importance was the lack of practitioners able to deal with emergencies such as abdominal aortic aneurysms and acute ischemia by arterial occlusion. Far too many patients with symptomatic or ruptured aneurysms were subjected to lethal delay through transfer to distant medical centers. Even lesser vascular surgical conditions could not be treated in many hospitals, especially in thinly populated areas.
By 1973, it was clear that more had to be done to generate more vascular surgeons. In the summer of that year, Robert R. Linton, MD and R. Clement Darling, Jr., MD of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Ralph A. Deterling, Jr., MD of the New England Medical Center agreed that the influence of the national societies and medical centers needed to be expanded by creating regional societies that could reach much larger numbers of surgeons to help them advance their knowledge and skill. In this way, the New England Society for Vascular Surgery (NESVS) — the first regional vascular society in the country — was founded. Several meetings were held and the group of charter members grew to twenty by the end of the year. That number grew to 37 members from all six New England states by the first Annual Meeting in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire in 1974.
For the first 25 years, the meetings were held in conjunction with the New England Surgical Society in various New England and eastern Canadian convention sites. In that period, the NESVS steadily grew to a membership well over 100, was fiscally stable and held Annual Meetings of steadily increasing breadth and quality. Papers presented at the meetings enjoyed a high rate of publication, first in the JAMA Archives of Surgery, and since 1988, the Journal of Vascular Surgery. By the meeting of September 1998 in Toronto, the Society looked back with a feeling of achievement, gratification and pride at its first twenty-five years, with determination for the next twenty-five to be just as successful.
As the Society moved into the 21st century, several new initiatives were undertaken. During this time, Vascular Surgery became recognized as an independent specialty, and the New England Vascular Society began to hold its Annual Meeting independent of the New England Surgical Society. With an independent format, the NESVS was able to expand its Annual Meeting to include a postgraduate training course focusing on critical vascular techniques and innovations, expand the number of paper presentations in the plenary sessions and to host events focused on medical students, residents and fellows pursuing a career in Vascular Surgery. Another major initiative involving the NESVS during this time was the formation of a regional quality improvement registry, as proposed by Dr. Jack Cronenwett in his Presidential Address to the Society at its 25th Annual Meeting. The Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) was founded in 2001 with his leadership and is a cooperative group organized to improve the care of patients with vascular disease. By collecting and exchanging information, the group strives to continuously improve the quality, safety, effectiveness and cost of caring for patients with vascular disease. The VSGNE now encompasses 22 institutions spanning the whole of New England, and once again New England has helped lead the way for the rest of the country. A decade after the inception of VSGNE, numerous similar regional quality initiatives are being developed as part of what is now a national movement sponsored by the Society for Vascular Surgery as the SVS Vascular Quality Initiative.
The members of the New England Vascular Society continue to reflect with pride on the leadership and innovation that have been at the core of its foundation and continued existence. As the NESVS moves past 35 years as a formal society, it remains vibrant and completely dedicated to advancing the prevention and treatment of vascular disease in New England and beyond.
Respectfully submitted,
Nathan P. Couch, MD
Mark F. Fillinger, MD
Executive Council
President
Robert A. Cambria, MD
Bangor, Maine
President-Elect
Jessica Simons, MD, MPH
Worcester, Massachusetts
Vice President
Jeffrey Slaiby, MD
Providence, Rhode Island
Secretary
C. Keith Ozaki, MD
Boston, Massachusetts
Treasurer
Alik Farber, MD
Boston, Massachusetts
Recorder
Carla Moreira, MD
Providence, Rhode Island
Immediate Past President
Sean P. Roddy, MD
Albany, New York
Past President
Andres Schanzer, MD
Worcester, Massachusetts
Past President
Alan Dardik, MD, PhD
New Haven, Connecticut
Councilor-at-Large
Anahita Dua, MD
Boston, Massachusetts
Councilor-at-Large
Britt Tonnessen, MD
New Haven, Connecticut
Councilor-at-Large
Douglas Jones, MD
Worcester, Massachusetts
Program Committee Chair
Mark Wyers, MD
Boston, Massachusetts
Issues Committee Chair
Carla Moreira, MD
Providence, Rhode Island
Membership Comm. Chair
Kwame Amankwah, MD
Farmington, Connecticut
Postgraduate Course Chair
Cassius Chaar, MD
New Haven, Connecticut
Allied Health Program Chair
Kwame Amankwah, MD
Farmington, Connecticut
DEI Task Force Co-Chairs
Elizabeth Blazick, MD
Portland, Maine
Patricia Furey, MD
Bedford, New Hampshire
Social Media Comm. Chair
Anahita Dua, MD
Boston, Massachusetts
Medical Student Outreach
Kimberly Malka, MD, PhD
Portland, Maine
Former Officers
To view a list of individuals who have served the Society in the capacity of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and/or recorder, click here.