Larry Kraiss ’82 is one of the premier vascular surgeons in the western United States and leads a team of researchers at the University of Utah that is trying to discover why plaque forms in artery walls — and how to stop it.

“When you are in medicine and science you make progress in thousands of small steps, one patient and one experiment at a time,” Kraiss says. “You may find one thing and publish it and someone else takes it and adds their little discovery. By the time ten or fifteen people have added something you say, ‘Now we know more than we did.’”

Kraiss performs up to two hundred surgeries per year, runs an active science laboratory and publishes widely in medical journals on advances made in understanding atherosclerosis, the medical term for the hardening of the arteries. But six years ago he confronted his own unexpected diagnosis of cancer, which is now in remission.

“That was a very re-orienting experience,” he says. “I would never wish it on anybody, but at the same time it’s a classic example of everything working together for good.”

Kraiss became interested in medicine during a high school physiology course, and vividly recalls watching a film of pediatric heart surgery. He started working at a hospital as a messenger which allowed him to observe the different units, from the emergency room to the radiology department. He entered Vanguard intent on going to medical school.

“I majored in chemistry and spent a lot of time in the science lab there,” he says. “I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Don Lorance, Larry McHargue and Wayne Peterson. They were the people who taught most of the courses in my major and they exemplified everything a faculty role model ought to be. They were professional and rigorous in their field, yet took a personal interest in students and modeled the integration of faith and learning in their daily lives.”

Kraiss shone at Vanguard, graduating summa cum laude, earning the President’s Award and giving the senior commencement speech. He was accepted to a number of medical schools and chose Baylor College of Medicine, where he earned his MD in 1986 with highest honors.

“When I got to medical school I felt that my preparation at Vanguard was better than what my colleagues from more prestigious universities had gotten,” he says. “I directly credit my Vanguard professors for the intellectual rigor they brought to the courses they taught.”