Vascular Laboratory education

The UC Davis Vascular Laboratory provides educational programs with regional, national, and international recognition, training students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians.

Continuing Medical Education

The UC Davis Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME) offers several popular educational programs to help technologists and physicians update their knowledge, learn new skills, and earn the required continuing education credits needed to maintain their professional credentials or laboratory accreditation.

Vascular Care is clinically-focused annual CME program that addresses a variety of topics related to the care of patients with vascular diseases. Vascular Care has a multi-disciplinary, inter-professional format, and always includes presentations by senior UC Davis vascular technologists.

Specifically addressing vascular technology topics, the biennial, two-day Vascular Lab course is offered in Sacramento. This CME program includes workshops demonstrating duplex scanning and other testing modalities.

Every other year, alternating with the Vascular Lab course, UC Davis partners with alumni of Dr. D. Eugene Strandness, Jr. to present the Strandness Symposium, a four-day program in Hawaii. This symposium, established by Dr. Strandness, the "father of the the vascular laboratory," addresses diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to vascular disorders.

Graduate Medical Education

Vascular laboratory training is required part of the education of vascular surgery fellows and residents integrated vascular surgery residencies, but at UC Davis the vascular laboratory experience gets special emphasis.

The vascular laboratory education curriculum is multi-modal, comprehensive, and it is a significant part of the experience of residents and fellows. Trainees will meet the prerequisites for the Physician Vascular Interpretation (PVI) examination of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS), which residents will take after their third year and fellows after their first year. Earning the Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation (RPVI) not only provides evidence of competency in  this part of vascular surgery practice, it is a prerequisite for board certification.

Vascular Technology undergraduate students

UC Davis Medical Center is a clinical training site for students in the baccalaureate program offered by the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), a part of the Oregon University System. Participating Oregon Tech students spend most of their fourth year at UC Davis, gaining practical experience in vascular ultrasound and other non-invasive vascular diagnostic testing. This training pathway provides comprehensive education in clinical applications of vascular testing and prepares technologists for the Registered Vascular Technologist (RVT) examination. All UC Davis vascular technologists have their RVT credential and many have their bachelors of science from Oregon Tech.

Research and Publications

The vascular laboratory has an important role supporting clinical and translational research programs in vascular surgery and cardiovascular medicine.

UC Davis vascular technologists and members of the laboratory medical staff have authored numerous papers and book chapters on topics related to vascular testing.