Featured Member of the Month (Aug. 2023): Richard Bock

Richard Bock, MD received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar and Resident of the Lawn. He completed a six-year residency in general surgery at the University of Louisville, a year of research at the University of Sydney, and a two-year fellowship in vascular surgery at UCLA. 
 
In 1995, Bock moved to Asheville to become founding director of the Mission Vascular Center. Soon after, he co-founded Carolina Vascular and, in 2004, Vein Specialists of Carolina Vascular. Richard served on the Mission Health System's Board of Directors and its Executive and Finance committees from 2005 to 2015. He created the Mission Board Immersion Program, and his paper describing the program was published in the New England Journal of Medicine as its lead article in March 2016.
 
During these years, Dr. Bock also performed basic science, animal, and human clinical research, and in 2009 won a North Carolina Biotechnology Center grant for his work on vein disease.
 
Bock left Mission in 2015 to become Chief of Vascular Surgery at Novant Presbyterian Hospital (Charlotte), where he built a four-surgeon, tertiary vascular surgery program. After recruiting his successor, he returned to Asheville in July, 2019 to open his dream practice: the Asheville Vein Center, where he, his vascular surgery partner Danielle Fontenot, and their team provide high-quality, patient-centered care of vein disease. Richard has been married to Jennifer for 34 years; their sons Carson and Spencer live, work, and study in Washington DC.

How and why did you start practicing in the field of vein/lymphatic care?

I did my vascular surgery fellowship at UCLA under Dr. Wesley Moore.  I quickly learned to avoid the vein cases, avoid the vein patients, and avoid the attendings who did vein work — because in 1995, we had little good to offer them! Soon after, when I founded the vascular program at Mission in Asheville, NC, we had the same philosophy, preferring the big aortic and cerebrovascular cases. 

Then in 2004, when our hospital Board told us (we were five vascular surgeons by then) that we must provide vein care, we were horrified. We decamped to a Chinese restaurant, had dinner, and drew straws (actually, broken chopsticks) to determine who would have to go learn modern vein care and then teach the others. I drew the short straw — I still have that piece of chopstick proudly displayed on my office shelves.

To my considerable surprise, I loved it. Over the next few years, I dove so deep into vein work that I began doing basic science research on Sunday mornings at a local rent-by-the-hour lab, then won a grant from the NC Biotech center. Soon I added a research assistant, and then moved on to animal research using Dr. Goldman’s old rabbit ear vein model. Clinically, I was limited to one day per week of vein work, but it was my favorite day. Meanwhile, my partners shamelessly reneged, telling me that they had no interest in learning or doing vein work, and that I could have all of the vein patients. That was fine with me, but it became increasing difficult to balance ruptured AAA’s and the rest of the arterial workload with my vein patients.

Years later I gave my partners a tearful farewell, and in 2019 opened my own full-time, independent vein practice. I’m still learning, still doing research, and still loving it. 

How long have you been a member of the AVLS and why did you decide to join?

I joined in 2017, years after becoming a member of the American Venous Forum. I knew I could learn from the AVLS how to better run a small practice, and I thought that perhaps the AVLS might benefit from my vascular surgery perspective and background. Dean Bender, the Executive Director, was instrumental in my introduction to the AVLS and its membership. Dean is a treasure, and the AVLS is lucky to have him.

In what ways has the AVLS helped you as a vein/lymphatic care provider?

I have developed invaluable connections at the AVLS meetings, and I’ve learned a great deal about how to run a practice that aligns with our (I have a terrific partner now, so it’s plural) values: high-quality, ethical vein care in a medium-volume, patient-friendly setting.

Any advice for your peers new to the field? 

Don’t do vein work unless you are committed to the highest ethical standards, to doing the right thing for every patient, to continuously learning and improving your knowledge and proficiency in caring for vein patients, and to not doing things you aren’t skilled at — nor interventions the patient doesn’t need.

What resources does the AVLS provide that would benefit them?

The annual meetings are rich in things to learn and connections to make and grow strong. Vein work can be lonely, because most of us work in isolation in a somewhat arcane field. AVLS meetings allow us to meet and learn from others facing the same challenges and asking the same questions.

When you are not at work, how do you spend your time?

I’m a trail runner. On weekends and on any day I can after work, you’ll find me on wooded trails up in the mountains over Asheville, running with friends and maybe our Golden Retreiver. Running is the world’s best treatment and prophylactic for burnout, and an antidote for long days in a cramped office. My wife kindly tolerates my hours in the woods, and joins me at home with a glass of my other passion — sometimes red, sometimes white.