VDF Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary!

VDF was founded by Dennis Newman as a result of a life- changing experience after a cousin passed away from complications from peripheral arterial disease (PAD). She was middle-aged, had diabetes, and had recently undergone a second leg amputation. After his cousin lost her first leg, Dennis did what anyone would do to help a family member: He began to search for information about vascular disease. It didn't take long for him to realize that few resources were available for people suffering from this often silent and debilitating disease.

The death of his cousin and the lack of public information and awareness about the devastating effects of PAD left a lasting impression on Dennis, who, as a pioneer in ultrasound technology, was already very familiar with the industry. Schooled as an electrical engineer, he started what became a very successful company that produced Doppler devices for detecting, among other medical conditions, vascular disease. His company, IMEX Medical Systems, became one of the largest manufacturers of medical ultrasound Dopplers in the world. He eventually sold IMEX to Nicolet Biomedical. Dennis knew that the general public and most medical professionals were unaware of many diagnostic and treatment options for vascular disease. Using his own money, he formed the Vascular Disease Foundation in 1998. From its inception, Dennis envisioned VDF as a non-profit educational organization. The social and professional connections which he had in the industry enabled him to round up an impressive list of physicians, other health-care professionals, and other friends or family members affected by vascular disease to serve as the first VDF Board of Directors. A Colorado native, Dennis focused his efforts on starting an awareness campaign in Colorado because of the existing interest and enthusiastic support of the community there. Initial VDF Board members included Byron Chrisman, JD, Judith G. Regensteiner, PhD, Mark Nehler, MD, William Hiatt, MD, Pam McKinnie, and Alan Hirsch, MD. Dr. Hirsh was the first president of the VDF Board and still serves as a board member today. He also serves as Chairman of the P.A.D. Coalition, which is the premier program of VDF.

"It was Dr. Hirsch's energy and motivation that really helped to get things started," said Dennis. "When Dr. Hirsch starting talking about PAD and the need for PAD education at medical meetings across the country, other professionals also began to see the need for more education about the disease."

A year after Dennis started VDF, he hired Sheryl Benjamin as Executive Director, a position which she continues to hold today. Sheryl and Dennis had worked together at IMEX and, with her background and excellent knowledge of marketing and the industry, she was a perfect fit for the position.

"It was the combination of Alan and Sheryl that allowed things to really start to take off for VDF," said Dennis. "Sheryl was initially hired part-time, but within a few short years we were growing so fast that we realized we needed her full-time assistance."

When Sheryl first came on board, VDF had a very basic Web site that focused only on PAD education. The Board of Directors had decided early on to focus all of their preliminary efforts on PAD education.

After obtaining VDF's 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, Sheryl attended her first AARP public meeting with one PAD brochure in the spring of 2000. In the fall of that same year, VDF launched the first issue of its newsletter, Keeping in Circulation. It was only six pages and for the very first mailing, only 2,000 copies were printed and 628 were mailed.

Today, VDF prints over 20,000 newsletters, now 16 pages, and mails them out to over 17,000 members of the general public and professional organizations across the United States and Canada. VDF also offers five full-color educational pamphlets, HealthCasts, "Ask the Doctor" Live Chat, and other educational materials. The VDF Web site, www.vdf.org, which was "remodeled" earlier this year, now averages over 30,000 visits per month!

With its headquarters still based in Lakewood, Colorado, VDF moved into new offices in January of 2005. Each month, our newsletter mailing list and visits to our Web site continue to grow. VDF maintains a solid reputation for being a trusted source for scientific and non-biased public education about vascular disease. In 2006, the Foundation branched out into reporting on the early stages of research and, in 2007, it continues on its mission to reduce death and disability from vascular disease and improving vascular health for all Americans. Today the VDF Board of Directors includes the leading experts in their respective fields of treatment and management of vascular disease, law, finance, and advertising. Dennis Newman still serves as Chairman of the VDF Board.

"I could not be more proud of the efforts of our Board of Directors and staff of the Foundation," says Dennis. "I think the last ten years have been an amazing journey, and I'm really looking forward to watching VDF continue to grow over the next ten years!"

VDF thanks its amazing Board of Directors for their energy, time, and dedication to our mission. The Foundation also thanks all of those dedicated professionals and National Advisory Board members as well as the general public for their continued support of our organization.