I'm John Kowalski, I'm Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and I'm a Vascular Surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center. So I take care of patients with vascular disease. Those are patients with arterial and venous problems all over the body, except for the heart. People with aneurysmal disease, people with flu or extremity arterial or venous insufficiency, patients who've had strokes and have a disease of their carotid arteries. Patients respond well to just conversation and understanding. A lot of people walk in with a lot of fear about what vascular surgery entails and what the consequences can be. Patients get a lot of satisfaction or a lot of relief, not just from surgery, but just from understanding what their problems really are. We take a lot of time, or I take a lot of time trying to explain to them why what is happening to them is happening to them. And knowledge and just helping people understand what's happening to them makes them feel a lot better. Vascular Surgery involves a lot of medicine and not everybody needs surgery, but needs frequent surveillance. A lot about managing risk factors and a lot of about overall patient health, diet, nutrition, managing hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, exercise. Limb preservation is a big part of what we do. Keeping older people, for instance, people with lower extremity or arterial disease, which is rampant and it's pervasive. Keeping people walking and ambulating is a big deal in terms of their overall quality of life, but just their survival. And I think we work hard to maintain that, and that's a big part of what we do. I enjoy surgery and I enjoy the technical success and the satisfaction of a well-done operation. That's one of the beauties of vascular surgery is those sort of technically demanding aspects. I tell my students sometimes the most satisfying thing is just the relationship that you have with people sitting in the office talking about whatever.