89th AATS President
Thomas L. Spray, MD
President, AATS
Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
It is both an honor and a privilege to serve as the 89th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. From a very distinguished past, we face an ever-challenging future. It is an unpredictable time to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. We are experiencing broad changes to our specialty and to the way we practice. Technology has not only changed the way we perform surgery, it has also changed the way we educate, instruct, and communicate. I am fortunate to be able to report that the AATS has been proactively monitoring, managing, and responding to these changes.
AATS was proud to share in the creation of the Joint Council on Thoracic Surgery Education. This joint initiative, announced during the AATS annual meeting, unites the AATS, American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS), Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), and Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education (TSFRE) in an unprecedented coordination of efforts. The four organizations have committed to develop and fund the Joint Council on Thoracic Surgery Education (JCTSE) which will offer an array of restructured, innovative, and comprehensive residency and post-residency training programs, including catheter interventional and endovascular skills.
The AATS continues its outreach to cardiothoracic surgeons at all levels of practice, both in academia and clinical practice in North America and abroad. The AATS awards more than a half million dollars each year in research grants and scholarships. Since its inception in 1986, the AATS Research Scholarship has funded the research of 26 cardiothoracic surgeons with over four million dollars. One of our newer initiatives is the Summer Internship Scholarship Program. Instituted in 2006, the program has introduced 100 first and second year medical students to the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Once selected, a grant is provided to encourage the students to spend eight weeks in a CT surgery department working on a specific project. The feedback we have received regarding their experiences has been overwhelmingly positive and several students were authors of abstracts presented at this year’s Annual Meeting.
Our Annual Meeting continues to be the pinnacle of cardiothoracic surgery education worldwide. This year, almost 2,500 professionals from around the globe gathered in San Diego for five days of outstanding science. Over the years, the AATS has increased the educational opportunities surrounding the annual meeting. The original half-day Developing the Academic Surgeon workshop held on Saturday has been joined by two specialized sessions focused on developing surgical skills and new technologies. In 2009, we will continue this tradition with sessions on developing surgical skills, new technologies, and developing the academic surgeon. Wednesday’s program continues to mature and in 2009 will once again include the ever-popular emerging technologies forum.
In addition to the annual meeting, the AATS co-sponsors and hosts a variety of innovative scientific meetings throughout the year. Through the efforts of the Education Committee, our educational initiatives are ongoing and growing. AATS hosted the biannual Aortic Symposium in New York City in May, which attracted nearly 1,000 participants. It is anticipated that we will host this again in 2010. The AATS will cosponsor several courses in the coming months, including the Cleveland Clinic’s 21st Century Treatment of Heart Failure and the Brigham & Women’s 6th Triennial Cardiac Valve Symposium. In early 2009, we will cosponsor a course on Congenital Heart Disease. And following a very successful 2008 joint postgraduate course with the ASCVTS in Singapore, we will once again cosponsor this event in 2009 in Taipei.
The Scientific Affairs and Government Relations (SAGR) Committee maintain our strong relationships with regulatory and legislative authorities such as the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The AATS continues to work in close partnership with CSR to restructure funding for cardiothoracic surgery and to revamp the peer review process at the NIH. Members of the SAGR Committee are in constant dialogue with the NIH to increase CT representation and the involvement of CT surgeons in research groups, study sections, and clinical trials. Discussions with the NHLBI have lead to a commitment from the AATS to include CT surgeons in both the Heart Failure and Cardiac Surgery Networks. Our efforts to educate CT surgeons on the complexities of the grant process will continue when AATS hosts the second biannual Grantsmanship Workshop in March of 2009.
I am excited about the future of cardiothoracic surgery and the initiatives being developed by AATS. The activities of the JCTSE will commence with the appointment of the Surgical Educational Director and we anticipate a wealth of activity and information will be forthcoming. The Education Committee will continue to develop and pursue educational offerings, and the annual meeting will remain the cornerstone of AATS’ educational efforts with new and innovative sessions and multiple learning opportunities.
About Thomas L. Spray, MD
Dr. Spray is the Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Alice Langdon Warner Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is also the director of the hospital’s Thoracic Organ Transplantation Program and Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Spray serves as the Executive Director of the Cardiac Center, a multi-disciplinary team approach at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that provides total care for the full range of infants, children and adults with congenital cardiothoracic disorders.
