The mission of the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education is grounded in two distinct areas of concentration: Research and Education. Education was central to the formation of the TSFRE and we remain indebted to the visionary leaders who saw educational programming to acquire skills outside of the traditional practice, research and residency training critical to our specialty.

For much of the history of TSFRE, the Education Committee has been primarily focused on stewarding the TSFRE-Harvard University Executive Course in Health Care Management and a yearlong sabbatical program at Harvard’s Kennedy School. For 10 years this program served as a standard bearer for surgeon leadership training. When the program was first envisioned, the specialty was embroiled in public policy and socioeconomic debates that challenged our specialties’ collective abilities. As a result of TSFRE’s dedication to this program and the dedication and commitment from thoracic surgeons to participate, we can now be proud to have many surgeons on the leading edge of these discussions. In fact, one early attendee, Dr. Thomas Frist, is now the US Senate Majority Leader.

In 2004 Dr. Miles Shore, Harvard’s point person on the program, retired and the program did not immediately name a successor. To maintain programming for thoracic surgeons, TSFRE joined with the ACS, in supporting similar programming at Brandeis University’s Heller School of Public Policy. Brandeis has a national reputation for excellence and its public policy program is among the top programs in the US. In 2004 and 2005 TSFRE supported 21 thoracic surgeons for the week long course and 2 thoracic surgeons for the year-long sabbatical which by all accounts was a great success.

To date, the TSFRE week long programs at Harvard or Brandeis have been attended by 139 thoracic surgeons. A quick scan of our societal leaders reveals that many of them are graduates of the programs. We are indebted to David Sheridan for making this program possible. David Sheridan was a pioneering medical device inventor who collaborated with D r. Ralph Alley and others in developing many important early catheters and cannulae.
M r. Sheridan donated $1 million dollars to the TSFRE to establish the Alley-Sheridan fund which has been used to fund the Harvard program scholarships. His daughter, Davene Sheridan Brown, has been an equally steadfast supporter of the TSFRE and this fund has continued to propel TSFRE toward innovative new projects and programs.

In 2004 the TSFRE leadership directed the Education Committee to identify future educational programming to maintain thoracic surgery leadership. Consistent with our successful program prescription used in developing the Harvard course, we focused on those educational programming needs that are not otherwise addressed in traditional training, postgraduate or continuing educational settings. Over the course of three months the Committee took a broad look at the challenges facing thoracic surgeons and constructed a long list of possible programs. After considerable r e v i e w, we were able to refine our thinking to identify three priority programming needs.

First, the group agreed that thoracic surgeons needed to be at the forefront of medical simulation education and training. As technologies converge and mature, the field of medical simulation will offer thoracic surgeons tremendous benefits and it is important for thoracic surgeons and industry to partner to lead these efforts. Second, thoracic surgeons should be exploring new concepts in transdisciplinary training. Acquisition of crossover skills and facility with techniques not traditionally employed in our specialty will help our specialty adjust to a future that may include hybrid procedures and multidisciplinary approaches. As leaders in the team approach to care, thoracic surgeons should also be ready to explore transdisciplinary approaches to care. Lastly, TSFRE is interested in furthering the thoracic surgeon’s role as a leader in patient safety. As this discipline continues to evolve, it is clear that patients, surgeons, hospitals and payors all have much to benefit from specialized education in patient safety.

In each of these three priority focus areas, your TSFRE is anxious to pursue these programs but will do so only if we can find strong funding support from interested surgeons, patients, foundations, government or industrial sources. This is a practical step that TSFRE has followed throughout its history, but it is also a very real test to see if our ideas have merit.

As with our successful role in the research arena and in the Harvard and Brandeis program, TSFRE will avoid direct involvement in running these programs. We know there are leading institutions, surgeons and other organizations that are better positioned to help thoracic surgery. Our role will be to promote and keep these programs focused on thoracic surgery. We will also represent these issues to potential donors and organizations and put together the requests for funds. In like fashion to our research awards process, we will manage a competition among interested applicants that will propose ideas for grants in each of the areas.

This has been a busy and challenging two years! I want to thank all of the members of the Education Committee for their extra effort over the last year as we undertook the extraordinary work of preparing the TSFRE’s education programming for the future. As always, TSFRE welcomes and encourages your donations to these programs. We cannot keep our specialty at the pinnacle of health care leadership without your support.