89th AATS Annual Meeting

89th AATS Annual Meeting

We are delighted to inform you that the 89th AATS Annual Meeting was a tremendous success. The meeting, which took place from May 9 – 13, 2009 in Boston, MA, attracted over 2,700 members and other professionals specializing in cardiothoracic surgery. The stellar program including the newly added NHLBI STITCH trial debate, a joint session with the Heart Rhythm Society, and a Pneumonectomy session were well received by attendees. 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.

To learn more about meeting highlights, click here to view the Daily News. This newspaper is the one-stop source for all that was covered in Boston. 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. Thomas L. Spray entitled “The Quality Conundrum”, the address of the Honored Guest Speaker Dr. Michio Kaku entitled “The Creation of the Universe, String Theory and Time Travel” and the Basic Science Lecture by Dr. Jonathan A. Epstein entitled “Insights From Developmental and Stem Cell Biology”.  Dr. Thomas B. Ferguson received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant contributions to the specialty.

The AATS Leadership Video was shown in the AATS booth, featuring members of the AATS leadership as well as students and postdoctoral fellows, highlighting the association’s vast offerings and ways in which surgeons can inspire to the next generation of CT surgeons. This video can be viewed on the AATS website.

At its Annual Business meeting on May 12th, the AATS Council inducted the following members to positions within the AATS Council.
• Dr. Alec Patterson of St. Louis, MO was inducted as the association’s 90th President;
• Dr. Irving L. Kron of Charlottesville, VA was named President-Elect,
• Dr. Craig R. Smith of New York, NY 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, Drs. R. Morton Bolman of Boston, MA, Joseph S. Coselli of Houston, TX, Hiroshi Date of Kyoto, Japan, and Bartley P. Griffith of Baltimore, MD will join Drs. Lawrence H. Cohn, John D. Puskas, Valerie W. Rusch, Thomas L. Spray, and Vaughn A. Starnes to form the 2009-2010 AATS Council.

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

 Approved a By-Law Amendment to include the chairs of the Education Committee and Scientific Affairs and Government Relations Committee as ex-officio members of the AATS Council.

 Agreed to establish a Centennial Committee to prepare for the 100th Anniversary of the Association which will include the Historian and the Editor of the JTCVS.

 Together with the STS, approved ethical guidelines for cardiothoracic surgeon relations with industry and a policy on educational uses of live surgery both of which were published in the JTCVS and the Annals and posted on the AATS website

 Elected the following fifty-one surgeons to Active membership, the highest number of new members elected in the history of the association:

 Giorgio M. Aru - Jackson, MS
 Raimondo Ascione - Bristol, United Kingdom
 Michael A. Borger - Leipzig, Germany
 Malcolm V. Brock - Baltimore, MD
 Alessandro Brunelli - Ancona, Italy
 Christopher A. Caldarone - Toronto, ON
 Andrew C. Chang - Ann Arbor, MI
 Edward P. Chen - Atlanta, GA
 Jonathan M. Chen - New York, NY
 Frederick Y. Chen - Boston, MA
 Sertac Cicek - Istanbul, Turkey
 Joseph C. Cleveland - Aurora, CO
 William E. Cohn - Houston, TX
 Gail E. Darling - Toronto, ON
 Paul De Leyn - Leuven, Belgium
 Marc De Perrot -Toronto, ON
 Volkmar Falk - Leipzig, Germany
 Roberto R. Favaloro -Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Heinz G. Jakob - Essen, Germany
 Paul M. Kirshbom - Atlanta, GA
 Christian Kreutzer - Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Jaroslaw Kuzdzal - Krakow, Poland
 Guenther Laufer - Innsbruck, Austria
 Paul C. Lee - New York, NY
 Harald L. Lindberg – Oslo, Norway
 Ugolino Livi - Udine, Italy
 M. Blair Marshall - Washington, DC
 David P. Mason - Cleveland, OH
 Reza J. Mehran - Houston, TX
 Franca M.A. Melfi - Pisa, Italy
 Benjamin B. Peeler - Charlottesville, VA
 Alberto Pochettino - Philadelphia, PA
 Jeffrey L. Port -New York, NY
 David C. Rice - Houston, TX
 Giancarlo Roviaro - Milano, Italy
 Juan J. Rufilanchas - Madrid, Spain
 Arkalgud Sampathkumar - New Delhi, India
 Ralph Alexander Schmid - Bern, Switzerland
 Stephan W.B. Schueler - Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
 Hideto Shimpo - Tsu, Japan
 J. Michael Smith - Cincinnati, OH
 Benjamin Sun - Columbus, OH
 Pascal A. Thomas - Marseille, France
 Yoshiya Toyoda - Pittsburgh, PA
 Paul E. Van Schil - Edegem, Belgium
 Thomas A. Vassiliades - Atlanta, GA
 Jakob Vinten-Johansen - Atlanta, GA
 Thomas K. Waddell - Toronto, ON
 Song Wan - Hong Kong, China
 Marian Zembala - Zabrze, Poland
 Marcin Zielinski - Zakopane, Poland

 Supported the efforts of the Education Committee, chaired by R. Morton Bolman, in reviewing additional educational activities through co-sponsorship of educational courses that will help continue to expand the educational mission of the association. The 2010  International Symposium on Congenital Heart Disease will join the following courses offered by the AATS:
• AATS/ESTS Joint Symposium in Krakow, Poland on May 31, 2009
• AATS/ACCF 2009 Heart Valve Summit: Medical, Surgical and Interventional Decision-Making in Chicago, IL on September 10-12, 2009
• Cleveland Clinic’s 21st Century Treatment of Heart Failure in 2010
• Aortic Symposium in New York, NY on April 29-30, 2010
• AATS/ASCVTS Post Graduate Course in New Delhi, India in February 2010

 Awarded the 2010 Scientific Achievement Award to Richard D. Weisel 

 Approved future Annual Meeting venues to include Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2013, Toronto, Ontario in 2014 and Seattle, Washington in 2015.

Please make plans to attend the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery to be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, ON, Canada, May 1-5, 2010.