Advancing CT Surgery: Key Advocacy Wins in 2024
In 2024, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) made significant progress in advocating for policies that improve cardiothoracic surgery and patient care. These highlights offer a glimpse into the impactful work accomplished throughout the year. View our comprehensive list of achievements here.
- Built Momentum for Medicare Payment Reform: 178 Representatives co-sponsored a new bill that would establish automatic inflation updates to physician payments.
- Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Replacement (TTVR): STS provided significant input on the proposed National Coverage Determination (NCD) for TTVR. While not all our recommendations were adopted, CMS affirmed the critical role of cardiothoracic surgeons as essential members of the heart team.
- Mobile Lung Cancer Screening Initiative: Launched to increase access to essential screenings, particularly in underserved and rural communities. To advance this goal, STS has introduced federal legislation, collaborated with the White House Cancer Moonshot Initiative, and developed an online toolkit to help establish new screening programs.
- Expanding Access to AEDs: Successfully advocated for the passage of the HEARTS Act, a new law promoting access to and training for Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in schools.
STS-PAC Contributors
Thank you to those who have supported the STS-PAC in 2024.
Platinum Level ($2,500-$5,000)
Vinay Badhwar, MD
Joseph E. Bavaria, MD
Edward L. Bove, MD
Joanna Chikwe, MD
Joseph Cleveland Jr., MD
Traves Crabtree, MD
Anthony L. Estrera, MD
Rob Headrick, MD
Dawn S. Hui, MD
Karen M. Kim, MD
Samuel Kim, MD
Thomas E. MacGillivray, MD
S. Chris Malaisrie, MD
Rita Milewski, MD
John D. Mitchell, MD
Cullen D. Morris, MD
Keith S. Naunheim, MD
Tom C. Nguyen, MD
Wilson Y. Szeto, MD
Jess L. Thompson, MD
Vinod H. Thourani, MD
Eric Vallières, MD
Gold Level ($1,000-$2,499)
Kevin Accola, MD
Anelechi Anyanwu, MD
George Arnaoutakis, MD
Marvin Atkins Jr., MD
Joseph Baker, MD
William Baumgartner, MD
Daniel Boffa, MD
Michael Bowdish, MD
Scott Bradley, MD
John Calhoon, MD
Mark Connolly, MD
James Davies Jr., MD
Joseph Dearani, MD
Brett Duncan, MD
Andrew Fiore, MD
Raja Flores, MD
Stephanie Fuller, MD
Arnar Geirsson, MD
David Tyler Greenfield, MD
Jeremiah Hayanga, MD
Robert Higgins, MD
Charles Huddleston, MD
Larry Kaiser, MD
John Kelemen III, MD
Kenneth Kesler, MD
Svetlana Kotova, MD
Rudy Lackner, MD
Stephen Lahey, MD
Paul Linsky, MD
J. Trent Magruder, MD
Douglas Mathisen, MD
Daniel Miller, MD
Kevin Miller, MD
Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD
Nabil Munfakh, MD
Alykhan Nagji, MD
Hani Najm, MD
Francis Nichols III, MD
James O'Brien Jr., MD
Patroklos Pappas, MD
Sara Pereira, MD
Ronald Pohl, MD
Thomas Pollard, MD
Richard Prager, MD
Jerry Pratt, MD
Bill Ragalie, MD
Thomas Reece, MD
Jennifer Romano, MD
Joseph Sabik III, MD
Thomas Schwann, MD
Steven Scott, MD
John Sherwood, MD
William Smith, DO
James St. Louis, MD
Sandra Starnes, MD
Ram Kumar Subramanyan, MD
Ibrahim Sultan, MD
Hiroo Takayama, MD
Betty Tong, MD
Peter Wearden, MD
Elaine Weiss, JD
Glenn Whitman, MD
Douglas Wood, MD
David Wormuth, MD
Silver Level ($500-$999)
Umraan Ahmad, MD
Mark Allen, MD
Carl Backer, MD
John Benfield, MD
Edward Bergeron, MD
Castigliano Bhamidipati, DO
Donnell Bowen, DO
Preben Brandenhoff, MD
Derek Brandt, JD
William Brinkman, MD
Foster Bryan II, MD
Lamar Bushnell, MD
Andrea Carpenter, MD
E. Chauvin, MD
Aaron Cheng, MD
W. Randolph Chitwood Jr., MD
Robbin Cohen, MD
William Conner, MD
John Conte, MD
Todd Demmy, MD
J. Michael Dimaio, MD
Melanie Edwards, MD
Afshin Ehsan, MD
David Fullerton, MD
Isaac George, MD
Christina Glenn, MD
Robert Guyton, MD
Michael Halkos, MD
Meghana Helder, MD
Jeremy Herrmann, MD
Robert Hooker Jr., MD
John Howington, MD
S. Adil Husain, MD
Jeffrey Jacobs, MD
Arminder Jassar, MD
Vigneshwar Kasirajan, MD
Rosemary Kelly, MD
Junaid Khan, MD
Peter Kneuertz, MD
Alexander Kraev, MD
Robert Kramer, MD
Seth Krantz, MD
Kiran Lagisetty, MD
John Lamberti, MD
Michael Lanuti, MD
Scott Lemaire, MD
Sidney Levitsky, MD
Virginia Litle, MD
Lucian Lozonschi, MD
John Markley, MD
Thomas Matthew, MD
John Mayer Jr., MD
Daniel McCarthy, MD
James McClurken, MD
Helenmari Merritt-Genore, DO
Mahmood Mirhoseini, MD
Nahush Mokadam, MD
Vicki Morton-Bailey, DNP
Joseph Motta, MD
John Ofenloch, MD
Mark Orringer, MD
Gaetano Paone, MD
Allan Pickens, MD
Ricardo Quarrie, MD
Xingyi Que, MD
Mahesh Ramchandani, MD
Matthew Reinersman, MD
Jeffrey Rich, MD
Eric Roselli, MD
Patrick Roughneen, MD
John Sadoff, MD
Christopher Seder, MD
William Seward
Barry Sheppard, MD
Robert Tranbaugh, MD
Ara Vaporciyan, MD
Dustin Walters, MD
Jennifer Wan, MD
Alison Ward, MD
Y. Joseph Woo, MD
Roderick Yasuda, MD
Bronze Level ($100-$499)
Shahab Akhter, MD
Mohamad Alaeddine, MD
James Allan, MD
Tamim Antaki, MD
Mara Antonoff, MD
Pavan Atluri, MD
Andrea Axtell, MD
Frank Baciewicz Jr., MD
Leah Backhus, MD
Thomas Beaver, MD
Sharon Ben-Or, MD
Amit Bhargava, MD
Thomas Bilfinger, MD
Thomas Birdas, MD
Alexander Brescia, MD
Paul Brown Jr., MD
Keith Bura
William Burfeind Jr., MD
John Casterline, MD
Daniel Cavanaugh, MD
Duykhanh Ceppa, MD
Edward Chan, MD
Subhasis Chatterjee, MD
Neri Cohen, MD
George Comas, MD
Scott Cook, MD
David Cooke, MD
Heather Currier, MD
Robert Dabal, MD
Thomas D'Amico, MD
Elizabeth David, MD
Abelardo Deanda Jr., MD
Benjamin Degner, MD
Manan Desai, MD
William Deschner, MD
Elisabeth Dexter, MD
Ankit Dhamija, MD
Colleen Donohoe
Desmond D'Souza, MD
James Edgerton, MD
Trevor Ellison, MD
Daniel Engelman, MD
Daniel Enter, MD
Farhood Farjah, MD
Felix Fernandez, MD
Henning Gaissert, MD
Mauricio Garrido, MD
Luis Godoy, MD
Scott Goldman, MD
Allan Goodman, MD
Danielle Gottlieb Sen, MD
Ramayya Gowda, MD
Allen Graeve, MD
Robert Gustafson, MD
Jane Han
Camille Hancock Friesen, MD
John Harlan, MD
William Holman, MD
Taryne Imai, MD
Timothy James, MD
Jeffrey Javidfar, MD
Jeffery Johnson, MD
Tsuyoshi Kaneko, MD
Michael Kayatta, MD
William Keeling, MD
Hari Keshava, MD
Onkar Khullar, MD
Charles Kim, MD
Nicholas Kouchoukos, MD
Dimitrios Koudoumas, MD
Deborah Kozik, DO
Benjamin Kozower, MD
Carole Krohn
Anita Krueger, MD
Steven Macheers, MD
Venkat Machiraju, MD
Michael Macris, MD
Linda Martin, MD
Constantine Mavroudis, MD
Courtney Maxey-Jones, MD
Rachel Medbery, MD
J. Hunter Mehaffey, MD
Walter Merrill, MD
Brian Mitzman, MD
Ezequiel Molina, MD
Keith Mortman, MD
Jason Muesse, MD
Timothy Mullett, MD
Ashok Muralidaran, MD
Jennifer Nelson, MD
Tuan Nguyen-Duy, MD
J. Edward Okies, MD
Francis Pagani, MD
Jay Pal, MD
Arjun Pennathur, MD
Jennifer Perri, MD
Joseph Phillips, MD
Joseph Platz, MD
Mark Plunkett, MD
Eric Presser, MD
Ourania Preventza, MD
Joe Putnam Jr., MD
Danny Ramzy, MD
David Ranney, MD
V. Sreenath Reddy, MD
Amanda Rea, DNP
Joshua Rosenblum, MD
Jessica Rove, MD
Joshua Rovin, MD
Robert Sade, MD
Rawn Salenger, MD
Sanjay Samy, MD
Edward Savage, MD
Stefano Schena, MD
Robert Schneider, MD
Alexander Schutz, MD
Steven Schwartz, MD
Frank Sellke, MD
Derek Serna-Gallegos, MD
David Shahian, MD
Christian Shults, MD
Smita Sihag, MD
Marc Silver, MD
Charlie Simpson
ErnestoSoltero, MD
David Spurlock, MD
M. Denton Stam, MD
Matthew Steliga, MD
Elizabeth Stephens, MD
David Sternberg, MD
Lars Svensson, MD
Paul Tang, MD
Alper Toker, MD
Eric Toloza, MD
Christopher Towe, MD
John Treffalls, MD
Curt Tribble, MD
Elaine Tseng, MD
Joseph Turek, MD
Frans Van Wagenberg, MD
Panayotis Vardas, MD
Thomas Varghese, MD
Daniel Wilkinson, MD
Seth Wolf, MD
Brittany Zwischenberger, MD
Resident & Fellow Level ($25)
David Blitzer, MD
Ani Chandrabhatla, MD
Jacqueline Duarte, MD
Carolyn Dubeau, MD
Rachael Essig, MD
Dana Ferrari-Light, DO
Mohammad Jafferji, MD
Juan Munoz-Largacha, MD
Raymond Strobel, MD
Malini Daniel, MD
Navin Vigneshwar, MD
Ashley Stading, MD