Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD)

PVD Chair's Message

Esther S.H. Kim, MD, MPH, FAHA What an honor it is to serve as the Chair of the Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD). I have been a member of the AHA for nearly twenty years and joined early during my career stage because I recognized the impact that the AHA has on public health, scientific advancement, cardiovascular education, and patient care.

Esther S.H. Kim, MD, MPH, FAHA
Chair, Peripheral Vascular Disease Council

Read Dr. Kim's full message

Call for Science

Have an idea for a scientific statement you'd like to submit to the American Heart Association? We want to hear it!

Call for Science

Welcome to the PVD Council

The PVD Council actively participates in the publication of scientific statements or guidelines that are important to our members. We've included those along with articles or research that cover topics of interest to our members below.

PVD-Related Science News

View more Science News

Related Resources

Related Activities

The PAD Collaborative unites organizations and experts committed to advancing the PAD National Action Plan to increase public awareness and understanding of PAD, prevent complications, address health barriers and improve quality of life for people living with the disease.

The long-term success of the PAD National Action Plan depends on the collaboration and coordination of many groups and health care champions committed to conquering this disease. More than 17 organizations and hundreds of volunteers have already raised their hand to work together to advance the National Action Plan.

For more information or to join the PAD Collaborative as an organization or individual, visit: heart.org/PADCollaborative or contact Valerie Weber and Lisa Howard.

The PVD Council funds several awards that support student, early career, and mid-career members recognized at Scientific Sessions and Vascular Discovery conferences.

More details on each of the awards can be found on the council's awards page

The PVD Early Career (EC) Committee is a vibrant and dynamic group within the PVD Council. The EC works closely with PVD Leadership and Membership committees to recruit and promote early career vascular specialists from clinical, research, and education backgrounds. In addition, the EC helps organize PVD Council's fellows in training curriculum which occurs on Friday of Scientific Sessions annually. This curriculum serves as a platform for year-in-review presentations on critical issues in the care of vascular patients as well as a forum for young AHA members entering into the care of vascular patients.

Learn more about the PVD Early Career (EC) Committee

Featured Members

Alexander E. Sullivan, MD, MSCI

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

What led you to a career in Cardiovascular Medicine and academic research?

I was drawn to cardiovascular medicine because of the wide breadth of pathology and the opportunity to advance the care for patients through academic research. Cardiology is a field that is constantly moving forward, and I knew that I wanted to contribute to that progress.

Hanqiang Deng, PhD

Yale University

What led you to a career in Vascular Biology and academic research?

I have been passionate about science and aspired to become a scientist since high school. I knew this may sound cliché, but it is genuinely true for me. My initial interest in virology led me to pursue a doctorate at the Shanghai Institute of Immunology. During my PhD training, I worked on a protein kinase and unexpectedly discovered its critical role in vascular development and integrity during embryonic and neonatal stages. When I first stained embryonic and retinal blood vessels, I was captivated by their beautiful and intricate structures, sparking a deep fascination with vascular biology. This curiosity was further reinforced by personal experience—some of my relatives suffer from cardiovascular diseases, highlighting the urgent need for research to address these serious and widespread conditions. These combined influences solidified my commitment to studying vascular biology and contributing to advancements in the field. Therefore, I decided to continue to study cardiovascular biology after completing my PhD and came to Yale Cardiovascular Research Center for postdoctoral training.

Alyssa Monica Torres Flores, MD

Post-Doctoral Fellow Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard Vascular Surgery Resident Mass General Hospital

What led you to a career in Vascular Surgery and academic research?

I decided on vascular surgery because I liked the technical precision, variety in skills, and general spirit of innovation in the field. I had a sense I was interested in cardiovascular disease when I began medical school because it’s something that has affected my family, but vascular surgery really caught my interest because we are able to manage the full spectrum of vascular disease – including medical management, catheter-based approaches, and surgery. I was fortunate to go to Dartmouth for medical school because the vascular surgery program there invested time and resources in medical student education and really nurtured my interest.