Lymphedema

Professor B.B. Lee began his career as a founding member of the transplant and vascular surgery program at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1979. He is now better known as a leading vascular surgeon in the field of veno-lymphatic disorders in the U.S. and a world authority on congenital vascular malformation and lymphedema. Prof. Lee, a disciple of the late David Hume of the Medical College of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia), has also made far-reaching contributions in the field of transplant surgery. During his tenure at Johns Hopkins University as clinical professor of surgery, he established a world-class living-related liver transplantation program in Seoul, Korea, as the founding professor and chairman of the Surgical Sciences Department at Samsung Medical Center and SungKyunKwan University. In recognition of his contributions to vascular surgery, Prof. Lee was named Distinguished Fellow by the Society for Vascular Surgery in the U.S. He has published over 800 original papers and abstracts in addition to more than four dozen book chapters, mainly in the field of vascular malformation and lymphedema. He has also given more than 500 lectures around the world. Prof. Lee has been serving on numerous national and international peer-reviewed journals as an editor as well as a reviewer specializing in the field of vascular malformation and lymphedema. He has played a critical role in introducing vascular malformation into the mainstream of vascular surgery. Consequently, Prof. Lee was invited by the Royal Society of Medicine and the American College of Phlebology Foundation to contribute as guest editor to a special issue of Phlebology on venous malformation in 2007. He was also invited by the American Venous Forum to write a chapter on AV malformation for the Handbook of Venous Disorders. Most notably, he was invited by the Society of Vascular Surgery/Journal of Vascular Surgery editorial board to write the vascular malformation chapter for Rutherford's Vascular Surgery, which remains the leading textbook for vascular surgeons around the world. Recently, both societies invited Prof. Lee back to write for, and update, their new editions. Prof. Lee has served as president or vice president on many national and international societies, including the IUA (International Union of Angiology) and the IUP (International Union of Phlebology). He has been elected to honorary as well as emeritus member status by numerous phlebology and lymphology societies throughout the world. For decades, he has led the IUP in addition to the IUA, boosting the image of both societies through his outstanding academic contributions. He has also successfully organized numerous world consensuses, including the consensuses on Primary Lymphedema and Venous Malformation for the IUP, in addition to the consensuses on AV malformation for the IUA. Until recently, Prof. Lee served on the ISVS (International Society of Vascular Surgery) as Vice President and also the American Specialty Board of Venous and Lymphatic Disease as a member of the Board of Directors, to promote this new specialty throughout the U.S. In 2011, Prof. Lee moved from Georgetown University to George Washington University, Washington, D.C., to provide worldwide services as the director of the Center for Vascular Malformation and Lymphedema. He also regularly contributes to the Uniformed Services University/Walter Reed Army Medical Center as Adjunct Professor and to Johns Hopkins University as Visiting Professor in addition to Georgetown University.

Dr. Stanley Rockson is the Allan and Tina Neill Professor of Lymphatic Research and Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. After earning his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine, Dr Rockson completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts, and fellowship training in the cardiac unit of Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Society of Vascular Medicine, American College of Angiology, and American College of Physicians, as well as a member of the International Society of Lymphology, American Society of Internal Medicine, and the Paul Dudley White Society, among others. As a principal investigator or co-investigator, he has been involved in numerous clinical trials researching various aspects of lymphatic disease, vascular biology and cardiovascular medicine. His basic research involves the investigation of disease pathogenesis and identification of biomarkers of lymphatic diseases, as well as research into molecular and pharmacologic therapeutics. As a Professor of Medicine, Dr. Rockson serves concurrently as the Stanford's Chief of Consultative Cardiology and the Director of the Stanford Center for Lymphatic and Venous Disorders. Dr Rockson is Editor-in-Chief of Lymphatic Research and Biology and sits on the editorial board of Angiology. Dr. Rockson works closely with National Institutes of Health, in an advisory capacity, to advance the agenda for lymphatic research. He has been a frequent invited lecturer at national and international meetings, congresses, and societies. He is the Founding Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lymphatic Research Foundation (now LE&RN) and has served as Chair of the inaugural Gordon Research Conference entitled 'Molecular Mechanisms in Lymphatic Function and Disease'. He is the co-author of Lymphedema: A Concise Compendium of Theory and Practice. Dr. Rockson has authored more than 150 scientific papers, reviews, book chapters and books devoted to various aspects of lymphatic biology and disease, vascular biology, and cardiovascular medicine.