Armed with a background of trying to provide excellent clinical care for patients with aortic aneurysms, balanced with an intellectual interest in the basic science of understanding the aortic aneurysm pathogenesis, Dr. Upchurch has spent his academic career dedicated to the study of aortic aneurysm disease. Clinically, he has an active practice in both open and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). He has been a part of well over 15 clinical trials examining various aspects of treating patients with aortic aneurysms with novel endovascular and pharmacologic therapies. For example, he received GCRC funding to examine the role of Doxycycline in inhibiting AAA growth in patients with non-operable AAAs. Concurrently, he has had a very active basic science laboratory which has received NIH funding on both the K and R levels over the last 10 years. This balance of clinical and basic interests has resulted in him being the editor on two books completely dedicated to aortic aneurysms, as well as editing a series on aortic aneurysms in a high impact journal. He is also the chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery.