90th AATS Annual Meeting Highlights

We are delighted to inform you that the 90^th AATS Annual Meeting was a tremendous success. The meeting, which took place from May 1 – 5, 2010 in Toronto, ON, Canada, attracted over 2,650 thoracic surgeons and other professionals specializing in cardiothoracic surgery. The stellar program, including the newly added Congenital Skills Course, Professionalism and Robotic sessions and the AATS/STS Cardiothoracic Critical Care Symposium were well received by participants. This year, the AATS embraced newer technologies by providing the Annual Meeting program and abstracts as a download to mobile devices and eReaders in advance of the meeting as well as on-site.

Rounding out the comprehensive educational experience was the exhibit area, where attendees had the opportunity to discuss business and view new innovations in the field including the Cardiac Hybrid OR and the Thoracic Hybrid OR. These Operating Rooms of the Future: Hybrid Technologies© were multipurpose interventional operating room suites that demonstrated the ways to integrate digital imaging diagnostics, as well as radiologic, catheterization and surgical capabilities. Surgeons and hospital administrators interested in planning a hybrid operating room participated in, “Building the Hybrid Operating Room of the Future.” The two-day course was designed to explain what a hybrid operating room is and what it can accomplish for the hospital, medical personnel and patients.

To learn more about meeting highlights, view the Daily News at http://www.aats.org/annualmeeting/Program-Books/2010/2010-Daily-News.html. This newspaper is the one-stop source for all that was covered in Toronto. A webcast of the program will be available on the AATS website later this summer.

Highlights of the meeting included the Presidential Address by Dr. G. Alec Patterson entitled “Non Solus - A Leadership Challenge”, the address of the Honored Guest Speaker Dr. David Naylor entitled “Too Big to Fail? Healthcare Reform in the U.S. and Canada” and the Basic Science Lecture by Dr. Susan E. Mackinnon entitled “Nerve Injury – Changing the Surgical Paradigm through Translational Science”. Dr. Richard D. Weisel received the Scientific Achievement Award for his extraordinary scientific contributions to the specialty. Dr. Michael J. Weyant received the TSRA McGoon Award which is given by the TSRA for “Excellence in Resident Education.” The 13th Annual C. Walton Lillehei Resident Forum Award was presented to Dr. Bobby Yanagawa for his outstanding abstract submission and presentation.

The AATS Leadership Video (www.aats.org) was shown in the AATS booth and registration area, featuring members of the AATS leadership as well as students and postdoctoral fellows, highlighting the association’s many offerings and ways in which surgeons can inspire the next generation of CT surgeons.

At its Annual Business meeting on May 4^th, the AATS Council inducted the following members to positions within the AATS Council.

• Dr. Irving L. Kron of Charlottesville, VA was inducted as the association’s 91^st President;
• Dr. Craig R. Smith of New York, NY was named President-Elect,
• Dr. Hartzell V. Schaff of Rochester, MN was elected to serve as Vice President;
• Dr. Thoralf M. Sundt of Rochester, MN was elected to serve as Secretary;
• Dr. David Sugarbaker of Boston, MA was elected to serve as Treasurer; 
• Also elected to Council, Dr. Shaf Keshavjee of Toronto, Canada, who will join Drs. R. Morton Bolman, Joseph S. Coselli, Lawrence H. Cohn, Hiroshi Date, Bartley P. Griffith, Alec Patterson, John D. Puskas, and Vaughn A. Starnes to form the 2010-2011 AATS Council.

The membership endorsed the following actions based on the recommendations of the Council:

• Agreed to co-sponsor the following future programs: 
  • Joint AATS/ESTS/STS Symposium on General Thoracic Surgery in Valladolid, Spain
  • TCT for Surgeons in Washington, DC
  • Cardiovascular – Thoracic Critical Care in Washington, DC
  • Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology in Chicago, IL 
  • Joint AATS/EACTS/STS Congenital program to be held at the EACTS 2010 Annual Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland
  • 21^st Century Treatment of Heart Failure in Cleveland, OH
  • 11^th Annual International Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease in St. Petersburg, FL
  • 4^th Joint AATS/ASCVTS Postgraduate course in Phuket, Thailand.
• Agreed to develop a stand alone Mitral Valve Symposium to be held in New York City at the forefront of the 2011 AATS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
  
• The Scientific Affairs and Government Relations Committee will hold its bi-annual Grant Writing Workshop in March 2011.
• Agreed to expand the AATS Leadership Academy in 2011 to offer a full day of programming for current division chiefs. 
• Supported the infrastructure of the International Thymic Malignancies Group.
• Supported CTSNet and agreed to partner with them in developing a searchable database of several of the AATS Annual Meeting Symposia presentations.
• Provided support to TSFRE in 2009 to assist with the increase in TSFRE/NIH funded research projects.
• Affirmation of the AATS Centennial Committee to actively prepare for the AATS centennial in 2017.
• Elected the following fifty-three surgeons to Active membership:
  • Shahab A. Akhter, M.D., Chicago, IL
  • Anelechi C. Anyanwu, M.D., New York, NY
  • Francisco A. Arabia, M.D., Phoenix, AZ
  • David A. Bull, M.D., Salt Lake City, UT
  • Harold M. Burkhart, M.D., Rochester, MN
  • Marcelo G. Cardarelli, M.D., Baltimore, MD
  • Steven R. DeMeester, M.D., Los Angeles, CA
  • Joseph J. DeRose, Jr. , M.D., Bronx, NY
  • Sergey L. Dzemeshkevich, M.D., Moscow, Russia
  • Gebrine El Khoury, M.D., Brussels, Belgium
  • Giuseppe G. Faggian, M.D., Verona, Italy
  • Pasquale Ferraro, M.D., Montreal, Canada
  • Richard J. Finley, M.D., West Vancouver, Canada
  • Harvey E. Garrett, M.D., Memphis, TN
  • Thomas G. Gleason, M.D., Pittsburgh, PA
  • A. Pieter Kappetein, M.D., Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • Ali Khoynezhad, M.D., Omaha, NE
  • Ki-Bong Kim, M.D., Seoul, Korea
  • Daniel Kreisel, M.D., St. Louis, MO
  • Christine L. Lau, M.D., Charlottesville, VA
  • Jean Francois Legare, M.D., Halifax, Canada
  • Gunda Leschber, M.D., Berlin, Germany
  • Kenneth K. Liao, M.D., Minneapolis, MN
  • Shu S. Lin, M.D., Durham, NC
  • Gilbert Massard, M.D., Strasbourg, France
  • Sandro Mattioli, M.D., Bologna, Italy
  • Daniel R. Meldrum, M.D., Indianapolis, IN
  • Max B. Mitchell, M.D., Aurora, CO
  • John D. Mitchell, M.D., Aurora, CO
  • Shinichiro Miyoshi, M.D., Okayama, Japan
  • Nader Moazami, M.D., St. Louis, MO
  • Laureano Molins, M.D., Barcelona, Spain
  • David L.S. Morales, M.D., Houston, TX
  • Michael R. Mueller, M.D., Vienna, Austria
  • Claudio Muneretto, M.D., Brescia, Italy
  • Daniel O. Navia, M.D., Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Himanshu J. Patel, M.D., Ann Arbor, MI
  • Arjun Pennathur, M.D., Pittsburgh, PA
  • Eugenio Pompeo, M.D., Rome, Italy
  • Alain J. Poncelet, M.D., Brussels, Belgium
  • Walter J. Scott, M.D., Philadelphia, PA
  • Craig R. Selzman, M.D., Salt Lake City, UT
  • Ashish S. Shah, M.D., Baltimore, MD
  • Howard K. Song, M.D., Portland, OR
  • Allan S. Stewart, M.D., New York, NY
  • Vinod H. Thourani, M.D., Atlanta, GA
  • Gonzalo Varela, M.D., Salamanca, Spain
  • Pascal R. Vouhe, M.D., Paris, France
  • Thomas Walther, M.D.,  Leipzig, Germany
  • Jeng Wei, M.D., Taipei, Taiwan
  • Mathew R. Williams, M.D., New York, NY
  • Kazuhiro Yasufuku, M.D., Toronto, Canada
  • Ryohei Yozu, M.D., Tokyo, Japan

Please make plans to attend the 91^st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery to be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in Philadelphia, PA, May 7-11, 2011.