George Pliagas

George Pliagas, M.D. FACS FRCSC is a board-certified general vascular surgeon. His vascular interests include hybrid techniques to facilitate peripheral revascularizations and endovascular treatment strategies for critical limb ischemia and pedal access. His three decades of expertise extends across the field of endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair to peripheral endovascular experience which stems back to 1992 . His first endovascular aneurysm repair was performed in 1999.
Dr. Pliagas earned his medical degree at University of Patras, Greece, and completed his general surgery and vascular surgery training at University of Western Ontario, Canada. In 1989 he completed an additional year of vascular training at U.W.O.
Throughout his career Dr. Pliagas, has trained fellow colleagues and industry partners and served as course director, faculty member for many courses in the United States and Europe. He has served as principal investigator for clinical trials and has authored publications. In addition, he has presented his work at national and international symposia including VIVA, and the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care where he helps organize the peripheral vascular program, AMP , the European Endovascular & Interventional Cardiology Conference and a course co-director for the 2nd Interventional Cardiology Skills Enhancement.
His ongoing commitment and passion for limb salvage and his ongoing interest in the development of endovascular and hybrid techniques to battle critical limb threatened ischemia has led Dr. Pliagas to the formation of a critical limb ischemia center in Las Vegas Nevada.

Dr. Rick Bernstein has been around the block a time or two. But in landing in West Michigan recently, he’s enthused about working with ACV and its patients in a long-term commitment.

A native of Chicago, he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, and then advanced degrees at Howard University in Washington, D.C. From there, he studied cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the University of Alberta in Canada, then a year of pediatric vascular surgery in England, followed by an endovascular fellowship at Cleveland Clinic.

After meeting the founders of ACV, Bernstein said he decided to stop performing heart surgery and instead “concentrate on preventing amputations and saving people’s legs.” He joined the practice in November 2019.

Prior to that, Bernstein had been practicing in Las Vegas, where his grown son Jordan is a professional musician. Daughter Shane is a speech and language pathologist in New York. Wife Valerie works as a fitness instructor.

Bernstein was drawn to ACV because of its values and mission, and “also because of the world-class expertise that is available there,” he says. “Doctors Mustapha and Saab are really, in my opinion, the best in the world at what they do, and working with them and learning from them has been one of my great pleasures and an amazing medical experience.”

In his spare time, Bernstein tries to hit the gym most days, and he’s looking forward to testing area golf courses on Sunday mornings come more fitting weather.

He calls it “an honor to be with ACV,” and says he looks forward to “making it the duty and joy of the remainder of my career to prevent amputations and save people’s lives.”

Dr Vickie R. Driver is System Wide Medical Director of the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Centers at INOVA Healthcare in the DC Metropolitan area and is Professor, University of Virginia, School of Medicine. She is also Fellow, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons-Glasgow, PM and Inaugural Fellow, Assoc for the Advancement of Wound Care, FAAWC. Dr Driver has accepted the position as Chair, Board of Directors for the Wound Care Collaborative Community, an important collaboration with the FDA, CMS and the NIH and received a prestigious honor of receiving The Robert A. Warriner III, MD Memorial Award. She is Board Certified with American Board of Podiatric Surgeons and is a Fellow at the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, licensed in VA, MA, and RI. Her career has a special emphasis on wound healing and limb preservation, and she is proud to be an outspoken ambassador for improving care to patients that face

John Evans, DPM, DABFAS, DABPM, FACFAS
Dr. Evans has been a podiatrist for 37 years and is in private practice in southeast Michigan. He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Pharmacy degree and received his DPM from the Temple University College of Podiatric Medicine. He is board certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (Foot and Ankle), and by the American Board of Podiatric Medicine. He is Chief of Podiatry at Beaumont Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn, MI, and has been since 2000.
He is Chair-Emeritus of the APMA Health Policy and Practice Committee and has served as a Medicare Carrier Advisory Committee (CAC) representative for over 20 years. He has been active with the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery for 28 years, including 8 years on their Board of Directors, and is immediate Past-Chair of their Communications Committee. He is the 2018 recipient of the APMA Award of Excellence.
Dr. Evans is a nationally recognized speaker on a variety of topics including Peripheral Arterial Disease, the Diabetic Foot, Limb Salvage, Physician Burnout, Dealing with the Difficult Patient, and Mindfulness in Medicine. Presently he serves as a podiatric representative to the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

Paul Michael, MD, FSCAI, a native of Miami, FL earned his doctorate at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Cleveland Clinic Florida as chief resident and continued his studies at Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans, LA completing his cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology fellowships as Chief Fellow at Ochsner. Dr. Michael is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, and Interventional Cardiology. Palm Beach Heart & Vascular, his practice in Palm Beach County, FL, focuses on providing a destination for patients seeking the very best results in endovascular procedures designed to save limbs due to preventable causes; mainly diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, and non-healing leg wounds. He is passionate about providing this level of care is because saving limbs means saving lives, because of the increased mortality of patients with advanced vascular disease. Dr. Michael is currently the Medical Director of Palm Beach Heart & Vascular. He has performed thousands of limb saving procedures and continues to educate at national and international symposia, including the Amputation Prevention Symposium (AMP), New Cardiovascular Horizons (NCVH), LINC, ISET, Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), America Professional Wound Care Association (APWCA), and Complex Cardiovascular Therapeutics (CCT). He is a proud member of #CLIFighters and the CLI Global Society. Dr. Michael also provides community educational and awareness lectures on amputation prevention and is committed to providing improved access to superior and compassionate care.

George Pliagas, M.D. FACS FRCSC is a board-certified general vascular surgeon. His vascular interests include hybrid techniques to facilitate peripheral revascularizations and endovascular treatment strategies for critical limb ischemia and pedal access. His three decades of expertise extends across the field of endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair to peripheral endovascular experience which stems back to 1992 . His first endovascular aneurysm repair was performed in 1999.
Dr. Pliagas earned his medical degree at University of Patras, Greece, and completed his general surgery and vascular surgery training at University of Western Ontario, Canada. In 1989 he completed an additional year of vascular training at U.W.O.
Throughout his career Dr. Pliagas, has trained fellow colleagues and industry partners and served as course director, faculty member for many courses in the United States and Europe. He has served as principal investigator for clinical trials and has authored publications. In addition, he has presented his work at national and international symposia including VIVA, and the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care where he helps organize the peripheral vascular program, AMP , the European Endovascular & Interventional Cardiology Conference and a course co-director for the 2nd Interventional Cardiology Skills Enhancement.
His ongoing commitment and passion for limb salvage and his ongoing interest in the development of endovascular and hybrid techniques to battle critical limb threatened ischemia has led Dr. Pliagas to the formation of a critical limb ischemia center in Las Vegas Nevada.