2026 Symposium Bios

Dr. Dolmatch is an interventional radiologist practicing with the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group in northern California since 2013. His clinical expertise spans a wide range of catheter directed IR procedures with particular interest in developing procedures and medical devices for creation and maintenance of hemodialysis access. He has pioneered the development and clinical application of covered stents to treat dysfunctional hemodialysis access circuits.

Vascular surgeon from Dallas, Texas who is the program director for the vascular surgery fellowship at Baylor Scott & White, Dallas & Plano with a particular interest in vascular access highlighted by participation in trials, new devices, publications and participation in national/international meetings and organizations.

Dr. Mohamad A. Hussain, MD, PhD, RPVI, FAHA, FRCSC, FACS is a Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon-Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Core Faculty at the Center for Surgery and Public Health, and Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He is board certified in vascular surgery by both the American Board of Surgery and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He obtained his medical degree from the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. He completed a vascular surgery residency and a PhD in clinical epidemiology and health services research through the Surgeon Scientist Training Program at the University of Toronto. He also completed a cardiovascular research fellowship at the Brigham. Dr. Hussain’s clinical practice is focused on general vascular and endovascular surgery, with special interests in complex hemodialysis access surgery, aortic dissection and aneurysm surgery, and thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. His research lab VESEL (Vascular & Endovascular Surgery Epidemiology Lab) conducts observational and clinical research to improve the care of patients with vascular diseases with special interests in population-based health services research, prediction with machine learning, enhancing causal inference research using target trial emulation, and clinical trials. Dr. Hussain also serves at the Director of Resident Education and Research in Vascular Surgery and Associate Clerkship Director in the Department of Surgery at the Brigham.

Dr. Lawson received his Medical Degree and a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Vermont where he also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry. Dr. Lawson continued his clinical training with a residency in General and Thoracic Surgery and a Fellowship in Vascular Surgery at Duke University where he joined the faculty as both a surgeon and scientist. He was formerly Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery at Duke with a robust clinical practice and basic science laboratory. He also served as the Director of the Vascular Surgery Research Laboratory, oversaw clinical trials for the Department of Surgery, and led the General Surgery Research Residency Program. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Surgery at Duke University. Dr. Lawson has also served in leadership roles (CMO, CSO and CEO) for a number of biotechnology and medical device companies (InnAVasc, Humacyte, Atlantic Research Group, VarmX, Vascudyne) and has successfully helped manage these companies through strategic growth, financing and exists to both the public and private sectors. He has co-author of over 150 journal publications on the topics of hemostasis, tissue engineering and vascular surgery and lectures on these topics both nationally and internationally. Dr. Lawson’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DoD), American Heart Association (AHA) and various biotechnology companies. As a physician, scientist, innovator and entrepreneur, Dr. Lawson has helped to raise significant capital to fund emerging technologies and has been a strategic advisor for early stage start-ups, large publicly traded companies and governmental agencies.

Dr. Dheeraj Rajan completed his Diagnostic Radiology residency at Wayne State University in 1999 and Fellowship in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000. Over his career, he has published 120 research papers, 28 book chapters and one textbook on percutaneous dialysis interventions. He is a Professor and the Academic Head of VIR at the University of Toronto. Dr. Rajan has also developed the procedure for and been pivotal in the global commercialization of a device for percutaneous creation of dialysis fistulas. His current interests are but not limited to advanced arterial interventions, and percutaneous dialysis interventions. Dr. Rajan is a member of the committee tasked with the update of the Kidney Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guidelines which was published in 2019.

Dr. John Ross is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in vascular access. Following his training in general surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Ross dedicated his practice to treating ESRD patients. He was a founding member of the Vascular Access Society of the Americas and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (ASDIN). Dr. Ross is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, ASDIN and MAMSE (Member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators). Dr. Ross has served as the PI on numerous industry trials, spoken at dozens of medical meetings around the world and has published on a wide variety of topics related to vascular access.

In 2011, Dr. Ross founded the Dialysis Access Institute (DAI) in Orangeburg, SC. This one-of-a-kind facility serves as a model for patient-oriented care and hosts training for physicians, staff and administrators on a routine basis.

Dr. Woo is a Professor of Surgery and vascular surgeon at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She and her team perform complex vascular access operations and are dedicated to the care of patients with end stage kidney disease. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Woo is the Principal Investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded research laboratory. Dr. Woo has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and has been an invited speaker at a variety of national and international scientific meetings. Her scientific research focuses on improving outcomes of dialysis vascular access operations and optimizing the patient experience of healthcare.