Report of the Task Force on Vascular Medicine.

T he American Heart Association's Science Advisory Committee was charged by the AHA's Board of Directors to make recommendations about how practice, education, basic and clinical research, and research training in vascular disease can be fostered in medical institutions, where specialists from a variety of disciplines are involved in patient care, educational activities, and research relevant to diseases of the vascular system. For this purpose, the Science Advisory Committee appointed the Task Force onVascular Medicine, after consultation with council chairs, to provide representation of key disciplines concerned with vascular diseases. This is the report of the task force as approved by the Science Advisory Committee. It is the conclusion of the Task Force on Vascular Medicine that the vascular system should be viewed as a single system rather than as a set of different vascular beds. This concept, based on solid foundations of vascular biology, has important implications for the delivery of optimal care to the patient with vascular disease. Currently, depending on symptoms, the patient with vascular disease is referred to specialists in cerebrovascular, coronary artery, or peripheral vascular disease. However, by treating the circulation as a single system, the complementary skills of these various practitioners would be integrated to provide coordinated, comprehensive care for such patients. If the vascular system were regarded as a single system, the expertise of clinicians, educators, and clinical and basic researchers could be harnessed to ensure continued advances in vascular biology and medicine and the application of these advances to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, which would benefit both individual patients and society.