About
The Schermerhorn Research Group has an active interest in vascular surgery outcomes research on a local and national level. As emerging technologies evolve the way we practice medicine, comparative effectiveness research has been instrumental in the identification of best practices from among an increasingly complex set of therapeutic options.
Research Focus
Our main interest is to compare outcomes after open surgery and endovascular surgery for a variety of vascular diseases, including aortic aneurysms, carotid disease, and lower extremity arterial disease, in order to help guide patient selection for each type of procedure. We utilize a wide range of observational, registry, and administrative data from real-world settings to better understand the impact of vascular treatments on disease processes.
Joining other institutions in the region, nationally, and internationally, we are an active participant in the Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE), the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI), and the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (IRAD). These large databases provide detailed procedural and patient-related information from which we have investigated differences in patient selection, treatment, and outcomes of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), carotid artery stenosis, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), among other vascular diseases.
Teaching, Training, and Education
Our research group has welcomed a number of tremendously productive clinical research fellows and PhD candidates in vascular surgery over the past years. Research fellows have come from our own general and vascular surgery residency programs as well as prestigious residency programs around the country. Research fellows have come from our own general and vascular surgery residency programs as well as prestigious residency programs around the country. PhD candidates have come through an exciting international research exchange relationship with the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. In addition, we have developed research collaborations with Toronto, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Milan. All research fellows receive formal instruction in research methods and statistics through the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and have gone on to present our work at national meetings in vascular surgery.