2024 Guest Speakers

W. Darrin Clouse, MD, FACS, became chief of the UVA Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery in 2019. He specializes in caring for patients with disorders of the blood vessels. His research and clinical interests include carotid artery stenosis and diseases of the supra-aortic trunk vessels, or those in the chest and neck supplying blood to the arms and brain. He is also strongly interested in treatment and investigation related to aneurysms and occlusive disease of the aorta.

Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and raised in central Kansas, Dr. Clouse was awarded a United States Air Force Health Professions Scholarship to attend medical school. After receiving his medical degree from Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota, he completed a residency in surgery at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center and University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. Clouse worked as a general surgeon at Wilford Hall before completing his vascular and endovascular surgery fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

During his U.S. Air Force career, Clouse focused on vascular care development and blood vessel injury management. He completed four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2014 at the rank of Colonel before returning to the division of vascular and endovascular surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Clouse was previously on the Board of Directors of the Society for Vascular Surgery, is a past Associate Editor of the Annals of Vascular Surgery and was an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Vascular Surgery. He is a past president of the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society.

He met his wife, Krista, as an undergraduate at the University of Kansas. Together, they have four daughters. In their free time, they enjoy skiing, hiking, going to the mountains and traveling.

Robert G. Molnar, MD received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame then completed his Medical Degree at the Medical College of Ohio. He completed his General Surgical residency and obtained a Master’s Degree at Michigan State University. His vascular surgical fellowship was completed at Vanderbilt University and he joined the Michigan Vascular Center in 1998. For the past 25 years, he has been in private practice with active participation in clinical research, acting as Principle Investigator in over 70 national clinical trials. He is a clinical professor in surgery at Michigan State University, the current Chair of Surgery at McLaren Regional Medical Center and director of surgical education. In addition, he is the Chair of the SVS Community Practice Section and member of the SVS executive board and SVS PSO VQI executive board. Dr. Molnar is very interested in the transition of vascular care to the outpatient space, ensuring quality and value based care in the OBL and ASC space.

Dr. Kirkwood is the Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, Medical director of the Clinical Heart and Vascular Center and Director of the Vascular Lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She also holds the G. Patrick Clagett, M.D. Professorship in Vascular Surgery.

Dr. Kirkwood graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and completed her General Surgery training at the University of Chicago Medical Center and Vascular Surgery Fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She has also completed an Advanced Leadership development program for physicians in academic medicine at the Harvard T. H Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Kirkwood specializes in all aspect of vascular surgery: peripheral artery disease and limb salvage with both advanced endovascular and open techniques, carotid artery disease and open and endovascular aortic surgery including management of infected aortic grafts.  Her research centers on patient and operator radiation exposure during complex endovascular procedures. She has published extensively on this topic and is an international expert in the field. Dr. Kirkwood recently won both the UT Southwestern Pitch Competition for medical devices and the commercialization milestone award for her patented prototype radiation face shield that decreases operator eye and brain dose during endovascular procedures.  She is board certified in both general and vascular surgery by the American Board of Surgery.

Dr. Kirkwood is past Chair of the Leadership Committee for the Society of Vascular Surgery and has served as the Counselor at Large for the Southern Association of Vascular Surgery. She is an examiner for the Vascular Surgery Board and a current member of the SVS program committee.  Dr. Kirkwood has annually been named by D Magazine as “Best Doctors in Dallas” consistently since 2016.