The VEITH Symposium has been my favorite meeting since I was a junior resident back in the 90’s. This year is no different. I finally figured out why I like it so. VEITH is organized like the Iowa State Fair with all the charms and chaos that makes that fair one of the top 10 things to do in the US. There is the location at the Hilton Midtown which puts it in the center of all the commercial and tourist chaos that makes NY amazing. It is a high end version of the midway at the Iowa State Fair on East Side night, but instead of fried Snickers and bad teeth, you have perfectly crafted international foods and people from everywhere. Like the Iowa State Fair, everything is happening at the same time and you have to plan out your day in great detail. And there are the must sees like the debates between the giants of the field and the 20 surgeon panels sitting on stage no different from the 1000 pound pig and the handsomest cow. Then there is industry, but rather than tractors in green or blue flavors, we get seven different kinds of stent grafts at my last count. You learn how to pick out the signal from the noise, not always by counting the N of individual papers, but in the trends of the numbers of presentations that generally agree, like the hot new Fair food that catches and gets easier to buy every subsequent year. A true free market of ideas. And finally, like you can run into friends who moved to Dubuque, you run into people who were important on your life path, Jedi and Sith masters and padawans, and you have large unhealthy dinners together. What’s not to like? Next year, at VEITH!
A Surgeon's Notes 