The Stony Brook Medicine Department of Surgery's Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) team is hosting a VTE/Blood Clot Awareness Day to mark VTE Awareness Month. The event will take place at the MART auditorium on Lauterbur Drive in Stony Brook on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm. Visit the event page to register. Limited spots for free vein screenings at the event are available by emailing Kristan Probeck at Kristan.Probeck@stonybrookmedicine.edu.
VTEs are serious conditions where blood clots form in the deep veins (deep vein thrombosis, DVT), usually in the legs, and can travel to the lungs (pulmonary embolism, PE). Common symptoms include swelling, pain, warmth, and redness in an extremity (DVT), or sudden shortness of breath and chest pain (PE). While often preventable, treatments for VTEs include anticoagulant medications and, rarely, procedures to remove clots.
Our VTE Awareness event aims to:
- Improve awareness of VTE as a preventable cause of morbidity and mortality
- Promote evidence-based VTE prevention and management strategies
- Encourage multidisciplinary collaboration in VTE care
- Understand ultrasound testing
- Apply updated evidence to clinical decision-making in everyday practice
- Describe cutting edge approaches for the treatment of VTE
- Identify patient populations at increased risk for VTE
- Discuss evidence-based strategies for prevention and management of post-thrombotic syndrome
Our expert speakers will be discussing the following topics:
- From Guidelines to Breakthroughs: A Practical Update on VTE by Dr. Angela Kokkosis
- PERT and Multidisciplinary Management of Acute PE at Stony Brook by Dr. Anish Desai
- Risk Stratification in Acute PE: How to Determine Who Will Benefit from Intervention and How to Treat Them in Time by Dr. Daniel Ohngemach
- Venous Thromboembolism in Special Populations: Unique Risks and Management by Dr. Lucy Price
- What is on the Horizon for VTE Management by Dr. Rabih Chaer
- Venous Ultrasound by Suguna Arunachalam RVT, RDMS, RDCS
- Beyond the hospital stay: Post Discharge VTE Risk and Patient Safety by Kristan Probeck, NP
- Post-Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS): Diagnosis and Contemporary Management by Dr. Tassiopoulos
- Phlebolymphedema: The Overlooked End-Stage of Chronic Venous Disease by Dr. Matthew Pergamo
This event is open to the public and, for physicians in attendance, CME credits are available.