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Blog
The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in Cardiothoracic Surgery

"If CT surgery is to continue advancing and attracting the brightest, most skilled, and innovative people, we must invite, encourage, and guide qualified individuals from all races, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, and experiences to join us," Dr. Godoy says.

Jul 2, 2020

5 min read

Luis A. Godoy, MD

Diversity and Inclusion Resources

Video
Vivien Thomas Lecture at STS 2020

2020 Vivien T. Thomas Lecture
The Saga of Vivien Thomas: Discrimination, Segregation, and Bias

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons launched a new named lecture at its 2020 Annual Meeting. It was in honor of Vivien Thomas, a black surgical technician with only a high school education who steadfastly designed and tested anastomosis of the subclavian artery to the pulmonary artery, resulting in the landmark "blue baby" operation in 1944 for children with tetralogy of Fallot.

Blog
Nostalgia Imperfecta

A 2019 article reported high incidence of discrimination, abuse, harassment, and burnout among surgical residents. Dr. Tom Varghese points out how the "good old days" of surgical residency programs were plagued by toxic culture, and that this toxicity must be stamped out to create a more productive learning environment.

Oct 31, 2019

7 min read

Thomas K. Varghese Jr., MD, MS

Blog
No Such Thing as an Innocent Bystander

Creating a work culture of professionalism, personal safety, and inclusiveness is a team effort. When seeing a colleague who is undergoing sexual harassment, whether it is being subjected to sexually crude jokes, unwanted sexual attention, or even quid pro quo sexual coercion, bystander intervention is a must.

Aug 24, 2019

4 min read

David Tom Cooke, MD

Video
Breaking the Demographic and Cultural Barriers to Patient Enrollment in Clinical Trials

Despite mandates that determinants of health and differences in sex be incorporated into clinical trials, some groups—such as minorities, women, and those of lower socioeconomic status—are still underrepresented. Drs. David T. Cooke, Loretta Erhunmwunsee, and Linda W. Martin discuss why diverse groups are important, how to improve clinical trial design, and strategies to enroll more broadly representative groups into clinical trials.

Podcast
#33: Breaking the Demographic and Cultural Barriers to Patient Enrollment in Clinical Trials

20 min.

Annals of Thoracic Surgery Podcast - Beyond the Abstract

Podcast
#23: Beyond the Abstract: Culture of Safety and Gender Inclusion in Cardiothoracic Surgery

In this episode, Leah M. Backhus, MD and David T. Cooke, MD join Dr. Varghese to discuss the importance of gender diversity in the specialty.

38 min.

Podcast
#20: How to Recruit More Women Into Surgery

Women make up 46% of medical school graduates; however, only 22% of cardiothoracic surgery trainees are women. Of the 8,617 people who have been certified by The American Board of Thoracic Surgery to date, only 308 (3.6%) are women. STS Director-at-Large Shanda H. Blackmon, MD, MPH says that has to change. She provides 10 tips on how to attract more female candidates into the specialty. Her talk originally was given at the 2018 European Society of Thoracic Surgeons Annual Meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Video
Diversity in Cardiothoracic Surgery

Recognizing the growing diversity of the population and patients in the US, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons created a special Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion to help cultivate an environment of inclusion and diversity within the Society, as well as the cardiothoracic surgery specialty.

Podcast
#2: Diversity in Cardiothoracic Surgery

16 min.

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