Jesse A. Columbo, MD, MS, FACS, has been selected to receive the 2025 ACS George H. A. Clowes, MD, FACS, Memorial Career Development Award for his project, “Risk of Stroke after Carotid Revascularization among Standard-Risk Patients.” Dr. Columbo is a vascular surgeon at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
In 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services expanded coverage of carotid artery stenting—including transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR)—to standard-risk patients and removed strict federal regulatory oversight. Although widely adopted, this change occurred despite ongoing debate and controversy about the sufficiency of existing evidence, particularly concerning long-term outcomes beyond the immediate periprocedural period.
Dr. Columbo’s research aims to address this critical evidence gap by documenting procedure use and 30-day stroke risk among patients undergoing carotid revascularization, with focus on three approaches: TCAR, transfemoral carotid stenting (TF-CAS), and carotid endarterectomy. He also will evaluate how practice patterns and stroke risk shifted before and after the Medicare policy change. Dr. Columbo hypothesizes that both the use of carotid stenting (i.e., TCAR and TF-CAS) and stroke rates will increase after the policy change.
Leveraging Medicare’s Virtual Research Data Center and advanced biostatistical methods—such as difference-in-differences and instrumental variable analyses—he will generate real-world evidence on long-term outcomes. These findings are expected to guide clinical decision-making, shape policy, and support his trajectory toward independent funding through a planned R01 submission.
“Our results will inform the effectiveness of TCAR for standard-risk patients and guide clinical practice by informing which procedure has the lowest stroke-risk for patients,” he said. “This work builds on the aims from my K08 by allowing me to use a powerful new data source, study a new population of patients with enhanced follow-up, employ a novel validated stroke outcome, and use advanced statistical methods.”
The Clowes Award is supported through contributions to the ACS Foundation with funding from The Clowes Fund, Inc., of Indianapolis, Indiana. Its purpose is to help advance the research of a promising young surgical investigator. The award consists of a stipend of $45,000 for each of 5 years and is not renewable thereafter.
More information is available at facs.org/clowes. Applications for the 2026 Clowes Award are due by July 31.
