The Society of Vascular Surgery International Scholars Program: The First Decade

Introduction

The Society for Vascular Surgery® (SVS) is a not-for-profit medical society that seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, research, and public awareness. ¹ The SVS guides further development of vascular research on a global scale, encouraging bright individuals from various countries to participate in scholarships, such as the International Scholars Program.

The International Scholars Program is a popular and competitive scholarship, accepting only 4 individuals outside of the United States, annually. ¹ The award includes a $5000 (USD) stipend, which the winner uses for travel costs and living expenses. The recipients spend about 2 weeks at various universities and clinics and attend the Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM). There are specific selection criteria involved: graduate of medical school, no older than 40 when applying, minimum of 1 year at the intended clinical site to complete formal training, committed to teaching/research, at least 1 year and maximum of 5 years of teaching experience, strong proficiency in English, and must be present at the annual vascular meeting to accept the award. The award must be used within the year it was designated. Additionally, an applicant is allowed to reapply only twice if not accepted the first time. All applications are reviewed by the International Relations Committee.

With the 10th year anniversary of the SVS International Scholars Program this year, the main objectives of this article were to investigate the characteristics of the awardees who received the scholarship, determine whether there was a significant difference in publication numbers before and after the program and evaluate the current status of the awardees using a survey.

Materials and Methods

We examined the characteristics and academic productivity of the annual awardees by measuring the output of publications, both before and after the scholarship, for each recipient, using databases, such as PubMed® and Google Scholar® (2008-2018). Data relating to the number of applicants each year, along with the application details of each scholarship recipient were queried (total of 40, 4 winners per year). The application included recipient’s curriculum vitae (CV). Information from this was used to distinguish the age prior to scholarship, gender, year of vascular practice post fellowship, country of origin, and number of publications prior to scholarship. The recipient’s first and last name were then used to query PubMed and Google Scholar (2008-2018) and identify any peer-reviewed articles published after scholarship. We further confirmed accuracy of the articles by reviewing the title, abstract, and author information including current institution, which was also provided on the application. Editorials, book chapters, letter to editor, and oral/poster presentations were excluded from the study. Additionally, a survey using Survey Monkey® was sent out to see the recipients’ opinions on the program and current status after receiving the award. We received 15 replies, with 10 updated CV’s.

Once all the data were gathered for the 40 awardees, characteristics such as gender, age, country of origin, number of applicants for that year, number of published papers before the year of receiving the award and after, total number of peer-reviewed papers, and years status post vascular fellowship were all noted. The data were standardized by identifying the difference between year of first publication and year of award (Table 1). In other words, the number of publications were identified per year but standardized with the 10 year gap. A paired 2 sample for means t test using Microsoft Excel (version 16.17, Redmond, Washington) was conducted in order to see if there was any significant difference with the number of publications, in regard to undergoing the SVS Scholars program (Table 2). The next category studied was the country of origin, meaning where the individual had undergone their education and was applying from. There was a total of 27 countries. For each country, the total number of publications were conducted and standardized with similar methodology as mentioned above. An analysis of variance: single factor test using Microsoft Excel (Version 16.17) was conducted to see if there was any significant difference between the country of origin and number of publications (Table 3).

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Table 1.

Average Number of Publications Before and After Undergoing the SVS International Scholars Program Per Year Among 40 Recipients.

Year	Before (n)	After (n)
2009	1.78	1.12
2010	3.34	6.19
2011	3.07	2.34
2012	4.67	0.92
2013	1.59	1.70
2014	2.44	1.55
2015	3.01	2.62
2016	1.23	0.33
2017	2.31	0.37
2018	4.11	1.25

Abbreviation: SVS, Society of Vascular Surgery.

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Table 2.

Number of Publications Before Versus After Standardized Over 10 Years Using t Test: Paired 2 Sample for Means.

	Before Average	After Average
Mean	2.75	1.84
Variance	1.2	2.89
Observations	10	10
Pearson correlation	0.25
Hypothesized mean difference	0
df	9
t Stat	1.62
P (T ≤ t) 1-tail	0.06
t Critical 1-tail	1.833112933
P (T ≤ t) 2-tail	0.138092763
t Critical 2-tail	2.262157163

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Table 3.

Number of Publications Per Country Standardized Over 10 Years Using ANOVA: Single Factor.

Groups	Count	Sum	Average	Variance
Summary
Before	2.75	1.84
After	1.22	2.89
Source of Variation	SS	df	MS	F	P Value	F crit
ANOVA
Between groups	5.88	1	5.88	0.59	0.44	4.02
Within groups	518.53	52	9.97
Total	524.423	53

Abbreviation: ANOVA, analysis of variance.

The survey was e-mailed out to all 40 recipients. It consisted of basic information such as name, age, gender, country of origin, as well as, the clinical sites visited, whether or not the applicants ever attended the SVS conference after attending the Scholars program, if they ever presented their research at a subsequent SVS VAM and if so, how many times, and what they gained from the program. Benefits of the program included improved technical skills, new procedures/techniques, new practices in clinical management, and local or regional leadership. Lastly, they were asked if they would recommend the SVS Scholars program to future applicants and how they would rate their experience as (Table 4).

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Table 4.

Survey Responses Status Post International Scholars Program Among 15 Recipients.

	n (%)
Attended the Annual SVS Meeting	5 (33)
Presented at the SVS Meeting	4 (27)
Improved technical skills	8 (53)
Learned new procedures	10 (67)
Adopted new practices	13 (87)
Local/regional leadership	9 (60)
Recommend the program	15 (100)

Abbreviation: SVS, Society for Vascular Surgery.

Results

From 2008 to 2018, the average number of applicants/year was 15.4 (standard deviation ± 6.69) with a range of 4 to 22 and 4 winners each year. Overall, 17.5% were females, 82.5% were males. The mean age of the scholarship recipient was 37 ± 3.37 years (range of 29-44) with 5.6 ± 2.30 years status post vascular fellowship. There was no significant difference with the average number of publications per year after the SVS scholarship program compared to before (P = .14, 1.84 vs 2.76) the award (Table 2).

Out of 27 countries, Brazil had the highest number of recipients (n = 5; 18.5%) followed by China (n = 4; 14.8%), Italy (n = 3; 11.1%), and Serbia, Greece, and Ukraine (all n = 2, 7.41%). The other countries listed are as follows in no specific order: Peru, Mexico, India, Australia, Thailand, Ethiopia, Latvia, Spain, Egypt, Russia, Cameroon, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, Taiwan, Austria, Ecuador, Singapore, and Germany (all n = 1, 3.70%). No statistically significant difference was noted between each country in terms of publications (P = .45; 2.80 vs 2.14, before and after, respectively; Table 3).

The results of the survey (n = 15) concluded 33% had attended a subsequent SVS (n = 5) meeting after undergoing the program, with 3 individuals attending more than once, and 27% having presented their research (n = 4) at the SVS VAM, with 3 individuals having presented more than one time. The recipients noted that the program helped them adopt new practices in clinical management (n = 13, 87%), learn new procedures (n = 10, 67%), gain local/regional leadership (n = 9, 60%), and improve technical skills (n = 8, 53%). The most common clinical sites visited by the awardees were Massachusetts General Hospital and Mayo Clinic (n = 4, 27%), followed by Stanford University (n = 3, 20%). Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, and Houston Methodist had n = 2, 13%. Overall, the Society for Vascular Surgery International Scholars Program was highly recommended with a 9.1/10 rating (n = 15; Table 4).

Discussion

Our study results have shown that there was no significant increase or decrease in academic productivity of the recipient’s postscholarship publications, even while standardizing the averages in relation to the year. Additionally, there was no significant difference in regard to country of origin. However, a main goal of the scholarship award was to allow surgeons from international countries to attend the VAM and visit US sites to practice clinical training, which was achieved through this program.

There are a few limitations to this study. First, we were only looking at publications (ie, peer-reviewed articles), as opposed to oral/poster presentations, conferences attended, leadership groups organized, and so on. Some individuals had many book chapters and a large amount of oral presentations. If this had been included, it is unbeknown to us whether or not there would have indeed been a statistically significant difference. It is possible the program could have taught these individuals more clinical skills, as opposed to research.

Second, with regards to the survey, it appears that the program was successful in teaching the recipients various skills to help further improve their career goals and establish a concrete foundation in vascular surgery. This was clear when the replies of the survey showed that the individuals agreed that the program helped them adopt new practices in clinical management, learn new procedures, gain leadership, and improve technical skills. However, if we were able to get more total survey responses, the power of the study would have increased.

In order to improve the return of investment from this scholarship, it would be helpful to start compiling data after every year in regard to the SVS International Scholars Program and speak with the recipients if and when they do attend the annual conference to attain additional feedback on how to better the program. On top of that, it would be interesting to examine the characteristics of the applicants who were not selected for the award. Nevertheless, the award remains a competitive process that seems to select prestigious academic recipients from all over the world, who continue to enhance their academic activity and goals, with both research and clinical activity.

Conclusion

The program was successful in maintaining academic productivity by continuing to publish research even after the scholarship, while teaching the recipients various skills to help further improve their career goals and establish a concrete foundation in vascular surgery. The award remains a competitive process that selects highly skilled recipients, while the program has much growth and progress to look forward to over the next decade.