News & Media

STS News, Fall 2020 — “A living document and an ongoing conversation.” That’s how the Society’s new Strategic Plan is described. The initial brainstorming session for the plan took place last fall, but the real work began in the spring, just as COVID-19 was about to surge in the US. STS President Joseph A. Dearani, MD, led a 2-day strategic planning retreat in early March that included Board members, other surgeon leaders, the staff management team, and an outside consultant. “When I accepted the position as STS President, I promised to do everything possible to advance the specialty for all members, no matter their discipline, geography, or practice setting,” said Dr. Dearani. “I believe this new strategic plan sets us on the right track to do that.” The STS Board approved the plan in June, recognizing that the Society has both the capacity and the capability to do things differently and even more successfully than in the past, especially in the areas of member engagement, virtual education, diversity, and advocacy – ultimately making it easier for members “to improve the lives of patients with cardiothoracic diseases.” Member Engagement, Virtual Education One priority of the new plan addresses the user experience of members, which has changed considerably due to COVID and will continue to look different in this new era. Because the investment and framework were already in place, STS quickly was able to expand its online educational opportunities, providing meaningful and targeted information to audiences around the world. The offerings have included interactive webinars and podcasts addressing clinical topics, as well as financial and wellness-related ones. These early experiences with virtual education are helping the Society identify the key features and technologies that are most successful and engaging so that when STS 2021 is held as a virtual meeting in January, the experience will be unforgettable for all participants – physicians, trainees, allied health, and exhibitors (see cover). Earlier this summer, the Society launched its new Learning Center (see page 2) through which users can access interactive educational programs and have opportunities to earn CME and other credit anytime, anywhere. Programs include the new robotic surgery online curriculum, Annual Meeting Online, and various other learning modules. Soon to come will be the long awaited STS Cardiothoracic Surgery E-Book (see page 7). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Another key priority of the strategic plan reaffirms the Society’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “The Board fully recognized the need for the specialty to become much more reflective of the population it serves, which is, of course, especially relevant in this era where there is a strong and understandable push toward addressing racial injustice,” said Dr. Dearani. “We also recognized how important it is to confront racial health disparities and help develop a diverse pipeline of residents coming into the specialty.” Recently, a special task force on diversity and inclusion was elevated into a workforce, and members of that workforce helped to develop a statement condemning racism and racial inequities in health care. The new workforce also is developing content for the Vivien Thomas Symposium at STS 2021, the Society’s new podcast series, “Same Surgeon, Different Light,” and a diversity resources page on the STS website (see page 13). Advocacy For the first time, advocacy has been listed as a key focus of the strategic plan. This is extremely important in the current environment where COVID has caused financial strain on hospitals and health care systems around the world. In addition, cardiothoracic surgeons in the United States are facing Medicare reimbursement cuts of up to 9% in January (see page 18). Moving Forward Although fully immersed in expanding education, diversity, and advocacy initiatives, the Society also remains committed to ensuring that its newly transformed STS National Database and STS Research Center are important parts of members’ day-to-day practices. Just as important is leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in enhancing the Society's quality improvement initiatives. “We are going to be even more relevant to our members at a time when they seek community, education, resources, research, and data,” said STS CEO and Executive Director Elaine Weiss. “That's what the legacy of STS is, and that's what its future is.” She emphasizes that the Society has a responsibility to keep this new plan alive and make sure that it doesn’t become a document that just sits on a shelf. “Our goal in creating this plan is to ensure that it is not just a list of activities and boxes to check off,” Weiss said. “We have developed detailed goals and objectives with actionable and measurable strategies. We will bring the plan back to the Board on a regular basis and ask, ‘Are we doing it right?’ and ‘Is it still relevant?’.” To learn more details about the plan and its goals and objectives, visit sts.org/strategicplan.

STS News, Fall 2020 — The STS Cardiothoracic Surgery E-Book is being touted as the most complete and authoritative online resource of cardiothoracic surgical information in the world. More than 600 leading surgeons from around the globe have authored and edited approximately 330 interactive chapters included in the two volumes of the e-book—Pearson’s General Thoracic and Cardiac & Congenital. The general thoracic volume is an update and expansion of the popular Pearson's Thoracic & Esophageal Surgery textbook, while the adult cardiac and congenital volume is all new. Rich with multimedia content, this comprehensive resource showcases more than 2,000 photographs, charts, figures, and surgical videos. In addition, hundreds of high-quality, hand-drawn medical illustrations were commissioned. Both volumes will be updated continuously to reflect the most current information. “The e-book represents the next generation of cardiothoracic surgical education,” said Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD, e-book senior editor for congenital heart surgery, and professor of surgery at the University of Florida Congenital Heart Center in Gainesville. “I find it particularly exciting that the STS e-book will allow hyperlinks to intraoperative photographs and videos and that chapters can be updated much more rapidly than the current process to update conventional paper-based textbooks.” Gail E. Darling MD, e-book senior editor for general thoracic surgery, and professor of thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto in Canada, agreed. “With knowledge expanding faster than ever, the old form of a published textbook with new editions released every 3 to 5 years is woefully inadequate to keep up with the rapidity of change. The new e-book allows us to update a chapter in almost real time.” In fact, the e-book eventually will allow for a Wiki-like experience that leverages the end user. In the works is a system similar to that of Wikipedia which will permit users to provide comments on the content that they are reading. If a section or even a paragraph requires updating or is no longer relevant, they will be able to point that out. The e-book also will be available in online and mobile platforms, offering home, office, or point-of-care reference 24/7/365. “The modern online format presents information that is remotely accessible. This increases the potential for global use of the e-book in the classroom, hospital, operating room, and anywhere really,” said Dr. Jacobs. More than 330 interactive chapters across two volumes soon will be available in the STS Cardiothoracic Surgery E-Book. Most of the cardiac and general thoracic chapters will be available soon, while the remaining chapters in those disciplines plus all of the congenital chapters are expected to be released in early 2021. Cardiothoracic surgery programs and residents currently have free access to the e-book through the STS Learning Center (see page 2); future access may be contingent on purchase of the Thoracic Surgery Curriculum. The e-book also will be available for purchase by hospitals, clinical practices, and individuals. Special introductory member pricing will be offered. “The STS e-book will become the gold standard for education and training of current and future cardiothoracic surgeons at all levels, including medical students, interns, residents, fellows, and attending level faculty,” said Dr. Jacobs. For more information about the e-book, visit sts.org/ebook.

STS Past President (1997-1998) A cardiothoracic surgeon described as “beyond remarkable” passed away on July 1 at the age of 91. George C. Kaiser, MD, became the Society’s 32nd President in 1997 after having served 5 years as Secretary. An STS member for more than 40 years, he also held positions on numerous committees and workforces. In addition, Dr. Kaiser was president of both the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association and the Saint Louis Thoracic Surgical Society. Dr. Kaiser was born in New York and raised in New Jersey. After graduating from Lehigh University and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he completed his residencies in general and thoracic surgery at Indiana University Health. He eventually joined the faculty at the Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Medicine, rising to national prominence during his 35 years there. STS Past President Keith S. Naunheim, MD, had a long friendship with Dr. Kaiser, beginning with their early days at SLU. “George Kaiser began his career at the dawn of cardiac surgery and, thus, like others of his generation, had to be an intrepid and innovative pioneer in the operating room. He once told me, ‘We just had to make it up as we went along.’” While at SLU, Dr. Kaiser was chief of surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital, director of the Perfusion Technology School, and chief of cardiac surgery at St. Mary’s Health Center. He also established the SLU Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and served as its chief. Perhaps most notable during his long and rewarding career at SLU, Dr. Kaiser was a part of the team that performed the first heart transplant operation west of the Mississippi in 1972. A master storyteller, Dr. Kaiser taught his students and colleagues by sharing stories of his childhood, college, medical school, marriage, family, and medical practice. He was known for often saying, “If you do what you love, you never have to work.” And he did exactly that, performing surgeries until age 70. “Dr. Kaiser was able to assemble a world class division of cardiothoracic surgeons from the ground up,” said Dr. Naunheim. “His department was productive clinically, academically, and educationally. He directed both the CT surgery and perfusion training programs, produced hundreds of articles and book chapters, and kept a grueling operative schedule day in and day out. It was like watching a world class juggler keeping six balls in the air at once. And he did it all with a wink and a smile."

STS News, Fall 2020 — The unplanned, massive shift in knowledge dissemination over the past several months—triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic—has revealed the increasing importance of an innovative learning platform and superior education technology. So in many ways, the long-awaited STS Learning Center is the right system at the right time, offering a reimagined model of education and a reinvented learning experience. This new learning management system, which debuted earlier this summer, will allow the Society to greatly expand and diversify its virtual offerings. “With the new Learning Center, we can deliver a wider breadth of content, both curated and intelligently filtered, to the learner,” said Ara A. Vaporciyan, MD, MHPE, former chair of the STS Workforce on Thoracic Surgery Resident Issues, and currently a director-at-large on the STS Board of Directors and member of the STS Workforce on E-Learning and Educational Innovation. “The recent events related to the pandemic and the changes it has produced means that online learning will take an even greater role in how we train throughout our careers.” STS members may not be attending live meetings and conferences right now, but the need for continued learning with content, activities, and modules that are relevant and easy to access is as important as ever. The Society’s educational programs—always designed to provide the most up-to-date information on research, surgical techniques, and patient management, as well as relevant social, ethical, and political issues—remain intensive, compelling, and high quality; other aspects such as the delivery and the look and feel have changed. The Learning Center leverages the latest education strategies, learning technology, and delivery methods, while offering improved navigation, functionality, and searchability. The result? A personalized, intuitive learner journey and a better overall user experience. “Online education always has been more of a learner-centric model in which the learner identifies the desired content and pace of delivery,” said Dr. Vaporciyan. “The STS Learning Center offers this type of platform—the ability to have information you need, at the level of detail you want, and delivered when you are ready. This is efficient for all involved, especially the learner.” Considered the perfect vehicle to achieve the broader objective of integrating virtual and live education, the new educational platform greatly expands the Society’s ability to host a varied set of content via a wide range of modalities. STS members now can easily view live or recorded webinars, participate in online interactive courses, listen to audio-based content, complete e-learning modules, and review other valuable educational content. The Society also is able to support live activities with completion certificates and online resource pages in a way that was not possible with the previous system. In addition, the Learning Center content is optimized to display on any web-enabled device such as a smart phone or tablet. STS members are able to quickly launch any course from anywhere and easily pick up later with course and video bookmarking. One Platform, Two Purposes Importantly, the STS Learning Center brings together two previous systems—cardiothoracic surgery residency training and surgeon continuing medical education (CME)—into one integrated platform. According to Dr. Vaporciyan, the new Learning Center is like an encyclopedia of cardiothoracic surgical knowledge. “We now all have access to all levels of content. The Learning Center is not just for the early learners or those who are starting their journeys into cardiothoracic surgery, but also for the intermediate learners who crave more advanced content and the established practitioners who want the most up-to-date information and may need to go back and refresh their knowledge on certain subjects,” he said. On the training side, the new Learning Center houses the Thoracic Surgery Curriculum, offering a centralized learning hub that allows program directors and faculty to design and assign packages and courses of content developed from a variety of sources. Trainees also are able to build tailored quizzes from a bank of more than 1,000 knowledge questions that cover all domains of cardiothoracic surgery, track those quizzes over time, and share results with their program directors. This new platform also offers options to organize and deliver content through personalized learning paths or customized packages that are built around specific topics. The learning is trackable through dynamic tests, self-assessments, and evaluations to help learners assess their progress, knowledge, and skills gaps. In addition, the training side of the Learning Center will allow streamlined access with a single sign-on. This updated authentication scheme will permit users to log in with one ID and password to multiple applications, including the Learning Center. Previously, users had different credentials for various platforms, so the single sign-on option is expected to ease the management of usernames and passwords. “With the new Learning Center, we can deliver a wider breadth of content, both curated and intelligently filtered, to the learner.” Ara A. Vaporciyan, MD, MHPE One important content resource now available to trainees and programs throughout the curriculum is the recently released STS Cardiothoracic Surgery E-Book. The first volume, Pearson’s General Thoracic, will be available soon to a wider audience, as will the second volume, Cardiac & Congenital. The new STS e-book is a comprehensive collection of more than 330 interactive chapters featuring photographs, charts, figures, surgical videos, and original medical illustrations (see page 7). “The new platform will allow greater flexibility to merge content from courses and programs with the richer, more detailed content that we are creating through the e-book,” said Dr. Vaporciyan. “This opens up new educational opportunities that previously we were unable to provide.” It’s important to note that CT surgery programs and residents currently have free access to the e-book, but future access may be contingent on program purchase of the Thoracic Surgery Curriculum. CME for Surgeons On the surgeon CME side of the Learning Center is a seamless, cohesive learning environment that will benefit STS members as individual learners. Annual Meeting Online is available here, and the new system also offers many enhanced features in terms of video content, including support for closed captioning, transcripts for learners, and insertion of “test your knowledge” questions right alongside the video content. These capabilities were not available on the previous platform. Also, courses such as the “Robotic Cardiac Surgery: Mitral Valve, Coronary Bypass, and More,” which feature prerecorded, narrated video lectures and demonstrations, as well as live, interactive panel discussions led by world-renowned instructors, have a home in the Learning Center (after purchase). The first session of the Robotic Cardiac Surgery course, Building & Maintaining a Robotic Cardiac Surgery Program, was released in September. Five additional sessions will be available over the next few months. The complete course or individual sessions are available for purchase. A similar program for general thoracic robotic surgery is expected soon. Over the coming months, additional features and activities in the new Learning Center will be introduced and the interface steadily improved to help ensure the best learner experience possible. For more information or to review the Getting Started Guides, visit sts.org/learningcenter.

  STS News, Fall 2020 — Without a COVID vaccine or an end to the pandemic firmly on the horizon, the Society made the difficult decision to forgo an in-person STS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, next January and, instead, create an all-digital meeting that will educate, inspire, and bring together members of the cardiothoracic surgery team from around the world. “I’ve seen the sessions and features that have been planned, and I think it will be an amazing experience,” said STS President Joseph A. Dearani, MD. “Our surgeon leaders and STS staff are using their intellect and ingenuity to design a meeting that is unlike any other that we’ve seen to date in our specialty.” STS 2021, planned Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31, is being built on an existing foundation of excellence, combined with the innovations of both today and tomorrow. In expanding the reach of this event, the Society is creating an immersive digital experience that offers a blend of content and community: Sessions will be a mix of on-demand and broadcast content that will include prerecorded and live elements, panel discussions, attendee chat features, 360-degree videos, networking events, and more. “We are developing sessions that utilize technology and offer enough variety that our attendees will remain engaged without experiencing the ‘virtual fatigue’ that has become common over the past few months,” explained Juan A. Crestanello, MD, chair of the Workforce on Annual Meeting. Each day of the 2.5-day meeting will feel similar to an interactive television broadcast, starting with a brief overview of what attendees can expect and a rundown of what they shouldn’t miss and concluding with a recap and highlights. The meeting will showcase the latest research and practice in all major cardiothoracic surgery disciplines via high-scoring abstracts, invited sessions, and e-posters. Tracks for residents/trainees and non-surgeon members of the health care team also will be available. “STS 2021 will be very inclusive and intentionally laid out to avoid screen and mental fatigue,” said Tom C. Nguyen, MD, a member of the Workforce on Annual Meeting and its Program Task Force. “We are including content and immersion features throughout the meeting that will provide an ongoing storyline and dialog that will keep attendees engaged and offer opportunities for connection and mentorship.” Mara B. Antonoff, MD, co-chair of the Virtual Meeting Task Force agreed that the meeting will be a standout experience. “The combination of preproduced elements and live content will provide attendees with access to cutting-edge research and global expertise in our field. The programmed tracks will be complemented by a wide range of on-demand content, giving trainees and early academicians opportunities to share their best work. We are embracing innovation and making the most out of this situation,” she said. The virtual platform and on-demand content will make it easier than ever for attendees to join whenever from wherever—no matter their time zone or location. But despite an expected record attendance, the meeting will offer opportunities for meaningful engagement and feel very intimate. “We are planning a series of small-group sessions in which experts will interact with participants,” explained Dr. Crestanello. “For example, we’ll have a mitral valve repair expert talk about his or her techniques, offer tips, and answer questions. The immediacy and personal nature of the exchange will be invaluable for many people who never would have had the opportunity to interact with that expert.”   While the exact program schedule is still in the works, Saturday morning will be set aside for Dr. Dearani’s Presidential Address. “It’s not going to be me standing at a podium going through a bunch of PowerPoint slides; it will be a very different experience,” he promised. A cornerstone of the meeting will continue to be STS University, which traditionally has been a hands-on course. Instead of touching, feeling, and conducting various procedures, STS 2021 participants will be brought right into an operating room experience using narrated, immersive videos that display actual operative techniques. In addition, attendees will be able to see who’s in the room, how they are positioned, and what equipment they are using—all without traveling to another hospital. STS 2021 also will include an exhibit hall in a digital platform, where industry representatives will be virtually staffing their booths, while showcasing the latest products and services for cardiothoracic surgery. During the exhibit hall open hours, attendees can participate in video chats with industry, take part in a scavenger hunt for prizes, and attend social and wellness events. Up-to-date information about STS 2021 will be available at sts.org/annualmeeting. Registration is expected to open in November, and early bird rates will be available with additional discounts for STS members.