Contact:
Lisa Gibson
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
American Association for Thoracic Surgery
Mobile: 951-318-3183
lgibson@aats.org
www.aats.org
FAIRFAX, VA – March 9, 2026 – The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) announced today a new collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-supported Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN) to further support the design and conduct of cardiothoracic surgical trials across the spectrum, from early phase to large comparative effectiveness trials. This partnership will strengthen the intellectual and financial resources available to support the CTSN mission of conducting practice-changing clinical trials in cardiac surgery.
AATS will support CTSN trial activities by engaging its membership in the generation of new trial concepts and by helping to advance the conduct of innovative, timely and patient-centered studies. These efforts will address ongoing challenges in patient recruitment and collection of long-term outcome data, while also supporting dissemination of trial findings and their adoption into clinical practice. A dedicated AATS CTSN Committee will draw on the deep expertise of AATS member surgeons, and a dedicated session yearly at the AATS Annual Meeting will provide a forum for brainstorming trial priorities, sharing trial updates, and engaging the global academic cardiothoracic surgical community.
“It is great that surgeons are taking the lead to provide both financial and intellectual support for key randomized clinical trials (RCTs),” said A. Marc Gillinov, MD, CTSN Chair, AATS Board Member, and Department Chairman, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, of the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. “High quality trials are a requirement given the changes in interventions in cardiothoracic surgery and rapid changes in medicine including the utilization of artificial intelligence. The trials we do today will impact guidelines and standards of care for years to come. This partnership will ensure we are both nimble and relevant.”
“I am proud of the AATS and the AATS Foundation for continuing to show leadership for our specialty,” said Emile A. Bacha, MD, 106th President of the AATS and Surgeon-in-Chief at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Chair of Surgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “AATS is the global home for academic cardiothoracic surgery and surgeons. Combining resources with CTSN will result in the best possible trials and investigations and thus better care for patients, which is our primary goal as surgeons Now, perhaps in this moment in history more than ever, collaborations are critical for global innovation.”
“The collaboration with AATS is an important opportunity to expand our research agenda”, added Annetine Gelijns and Alan Moskowitz, principal investigators of the coordinating center. “Since its inception, CTSN has built a large portfolio of clinical trials, enrolling some 20,000 patients across its cardiovascular studies, including over 5,000 patients in 13 randomized trials at over 100 sites in North America and Europe. Importantly, evidence generated by our RCTs has been incorporated into international, multi-society clinical practice guidelines and has directly influenced changes in practice.”
About AATS
The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) is an international organization that encourages, promotes, and stimulates the scientific investigation of cardiothoracic surgery. Founded in 1917 by a respected group of the earliest pioneers in the field, its original mission was to “foster the evolution of an interest in surgery of the Thorax.” Today, the AATS is the premier association for cardiothoracic surgeons in the world and works to continually enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality of patient care. Its more than 1,500 members have a proven record of distinction within the specialty and have made significant contributions to the care and treatment of cardiothoracic disease. Visit aats.org to learn more.
About CTSN
In late 2007, the NHLBI created the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN) whose mission has been to design, conduct, and analyze trials that evaluate impactful cardiac surgical interventions and associated management practices to change clinical practice and improve the health of patients with cardiovascular disease. One key advantage of the Network model is that it increases the efficiency of clinical research by providing a clinical laboratory in which multiple clinical trials can be conducted simultaneously and sequentially without having to create a new infrastructure for each one. Similarly, the flexibility of the Network model and its funding allows participants to develop protocols collaboratively, launch trials quickly, and pivot to address new clinical issues as needed.
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