Access & Publications Research Program
STS sponsors and funds research through a well-established program administered by the STS Access & Publications (A&P) Task Force.
The A&P Research Program is for STS National Database participants conducting research using data from one of the four Database components: Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), General Thoracic Surgery (GTSD), and Intermacs Database.
Funding consideration is given to novel, well-conceived, and hypothesis-driven proposals, with extra consideration for projects that involve multiple investigators/institutions and can be completed within 9-12 months. Analyses are performed at an STS-designated analytics center.
Researchers submitting proposals should keep in mind:
- The submitted research plan should be well thought-out and must include sufficient details that clearly outline all required analysis steps. Shell tables and figures are required.
- Data elements required for the research analysis must be included in the STS National Database. Many proposals have been rejected because they required data that were not part of the Database.
- The STS RAC is not currently accepting new Adult Cardiac proposals focused on Acute Type A Aortic dissection (ATAAD) due to numerous ongoing projects and recently published manuscripts on this topic. Formal updates will be shared when consideration of ATAAD proposals resumes.
Prospective investigators are strongly encouraged to review the Current Projects web page, as well as the Published Research web page, in advance of submitting a full proposal.
2024 Proposal Submission Deadlines
| Specialty Database | Cycle I | Cycle II |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Cardiac Surgery Database | July 30, 2024 | Deferred* |
| Congenital Heart Surgery Database | April 1 | November 1 |
| General Thoracic Surgery Database | April 15, 2024 | Deferred* |
| Intermacs | June 15 | December 20 |
*The next A&P General Thoracic Surgery Database and A&P Adult Cardiac Surgery Database proposal submission deadlines will be announced in early 2025.
Refer to the A&P Processes, Procedures, and Leadership document for detailed information regarding the A&P proposal review process, and submit your application today. For more information, contact Kristin Mathis.