We have built it, and they are coming

Abstract

As Dr Davies and his colleagues have shown in their excellent review,1 there is growing evidence that recruitment measures, such as mentorship and simulation, effectively increase medical student interest in vascular surgery. Still, more studies are needed in this crucial undertaking. Active, coordinated efforts to inspire surgical residents and medical students to pursue training in vascular surgery are relatively new endeavors. Dr Anton Sidawy predicted this need in his 2003 Presidential address to the Eastern Vascular Society,2 also noting, “Although women represent 50% of the available talent in the graduating medical school class, only 9.6% of active vascular fellows in the academic year 2001 to 2002 were women…” Dr Sidawy’s words were prescient; from 2004 to 2006, three consecutive disastrous matches followed.