The VA Connecticut Healthcare System and the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) are pleased to announce that Alan Dardik, MD, PhD, will assume the position of Chief of Surgery for VA Connecticut at the end of February 2024. He replaces Melissa Perkal, MD, who has served as Acting Chief for the West Haven Center since the retirement of Ronnie Rosenthal, MD, in 2022.
Dr. Dardik is currently an attending vascular surgeon at VA Connecticut, where he was formerly the Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery from 2009-2017 and serves on the YSM faculty as a professor of surgery and cellular and molecular physiology. Dr. Dardik has served as a Vice Chair of Yale’s Department of Surgery since 2015 as well as Interim Division Chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery between 2018 and 2019.
Recognized internationally as a leader in vascular research, Dr. Dardik’s NIH-funded laboratory studies the healing and function of blood vessels, fistulae, and vessel patches that are used in patients having vascular surgery.
In addition, Dr. Dardik is deeply committed to the training and mentoring of young investigators, especially those interested in becoming clinician-scientists; he has been a mentor to over 25 predoctoral students for MD, PhD, MD/PhD, and masters’ degrees, and to over 50 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have entered academic careers. Dr. Dardik was awarded the C. Elton Cahow Award for Outstanding Faculty Teaching from the department and the Faculty Teaching Award from St. Mary’s Hospital.
Dr. Dardik currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the translational journal JVS-Vascular Science; he has served as president of the New England Society for Vascular Surgery, the Association of VA Surgeons, as well as the International Society for Vascular Surgery.
We would like to thank Melissa Perkal, MD, for her leadership as Acting Chief of Surgery for the past 14 months, while she maintained a busy general surgery practice and attended in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Her service to the VA extends over 21 years; and her dedication to clinical excellence, patient care and, education is admirable.