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Report From The STS Board of Directors

Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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

	Introduction

 
The Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) was held at the Greater Fort Lauderdale–Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 28–30, 2008, with an attendance of almost 5000, including surgeons, allied health care professionals, spouses, and exhibitors.

The program again featured STS University, which offered 11 hands-on sessions as well as a dynamic patient safety program. This year, each hands-on session was offered twice, thus increasing the opportunities attendees had to take part in this exciting program.

The Monday morning General Scientific Session featured the presentation of three J. Maxwell Chamberlain Memorial Papers: "Immunological Link Between Primary Graft Dysfunction (PGD) and Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS)," "Aortic Root Replacement in 372 Marfan Patients: The Evolution of Operative Repair Over 30 Years," and "The Rush to Atrial Septal Defect Closure: Is the Introduction of Percutaneous Closure Driving Utilization?"

A variety of other educational opportunities were also available this year, including the Parallel Surgical Forums, Surgical Motion Pictures—offered as Surgical Matinees—Breakfast Sessions, and the Symposium on Beginning Clinical Research in Your Institution: The Basics.

Of particular note were three highly motivating presentations: the Presidential Address, the Thomas B. Ferguson Lecture, and the Medical Ethics Debate. In his Presidential Address "Is There a Role for Our Profession in Solving the Problems of the American Health Care System," Dr John E. Mayer emphasized that the future of the specialty must rely on a combination of patient needs and a renewed sense of professionalism. Elizabeth O. Teisberg, PhD, ME, coauthor of the book, Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results, was the Thomas B. Ferguson Lecturer. Dr Teisberg focused on the need to refocus health care on improving the value it creates for people by keeping them healthier and improving treatment outcomes. The Ethics Debate: "No Heroic Measures–How . . . [Full Text of this Article]