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Ann Thorac Surg 2004;78:2-8
© 2004 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Presidential address

The complete cardiothoracic surgeon: qualities of excellence

^a General Thoracic Surgery, The Emory Clinic, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

^* Address reprint requests to Dr Miller, General Thoracic Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, 1365 Clifton Rd, NE, Building A–A2206, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
e-mail: jmille6331@aol.com

Presented at the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, Bonita Springs, FL, Nov 13–15, 2003.

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

 

As I stand before you this morning, we have already presented the past and present of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association from the historical aspects, spouse's perspective, and summaries of the important general thoracic, adult cardiac, and pediatric surgical papers presented before this association. My thoughts for this address spanned a broad spectrum of potential topics, but ultimately my remarks had to reflect my observations on the practice of cardiothoracic surgery based on 30 years of professional academic experience.

Harvey Bender stated that presidential addresses tend to be one of three types [1]: (1) The first type is a scientific paper based on an area of his or her special interests and one that frequently stresses clinical outcomes in the management of a disease process; (2) the second type is historical, one that reviews and documents important turning points in the development of the specialty and emphasizes the important roles played by previous leaders in the field; (3) the third type is philosophical, and I think mine best fits into that category.

I feel that we have to look at the preservation of the specialty of cardiothoracic surgery and the qualities that the complete cardiothoracic surgeon will need to learn and acquire as we move into the second millennium. Preservation of the specialty and pursuit of qualities of excellence in cardiothoracic surgery (CTS) are what will sustain not only the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, but also our specialty as a whole.

In my opinion, the specialty has never been held in higher esteem by other specialties or by the public. In most institutions, the department or division of cardiothoracic surgery sets the standard that all of the other departments follow: in economics, local and national involvement, publications, and level of expertise. When I look at the 16 members of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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