Letter from the President

Dear Colleagues:

The Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education (TSFRE) is pleased to have funded 22 research projects in the years 2004-2005. Our partnership with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has resulted in the five TSFRE/ NHLBI Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards that provide up to five years of support to young surgeon scientists whose ongoing work and accomplishments show that they are forthcoming leaders. Under our new partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the first TSFRE-NCI Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award has already been funded. This research support is possible because of the generosity of individuals, corporations and grateful patients. We hope and expect that the research done by TSFRE funded young cardiothoracic surgeons will insure continuing progress in our specialty on behalf of optimum care for our patients.

From its start, TSFRE provided scholarships for over 400 cardiothoracic surgeons who studied at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, funded by monies that were given to TSFRE specifically for this purpose. Encouraging and supporting public policy education for cardiothoracic surgeons remains a primary mission for TSFRE. Thus, ten scholarships were awarded in 2005 to a new course at Brandeis University entitled “Leadership Program in Health Policy and Management”. The Education Committee has been asked to evaluate and make recommendations for a future curriculum tailored to the needs of cardiothoracic surgeons.

In 2003 the Board broadened TSFRE’s mission in cardiothoracic surgery education. Based on a superb report in April 2004 from the Education Committee TSFRE has distributed requests for applications in three areas:
      1) Simulation;
      2) Acquisition of transdisciplinary skills; and
      3) Patient safety. Applications are expected,
and fund raising for these education initiatives is underway. TSFRE and the Joint Council for Education in Thoracic Surgery will be jointly sponsoring a vision conference about the use of simulation technology in cardiothoracic surgery education.

TSFRE was fortunately able to fund a significant number of important research and education projects in 2004 and 2005 as follows:

	•	Research Grants — $350,000
	•	Career Development Award — $50,000
	•	Nina Starr Braunwald Research Fellowship — $140,000
	•	Alley-Sheridan Public Policy Fellowships — $47,000
	•	TSFRE/NIH Clinical Scientist Development Awards (K08, K23) — $750,000* *The TSFRE portion of MCSDA awards is funded by The William J. von Liebig Foundation, The Cross Jones Foundation for Research and Education, The Starr Foundation, The Foundation for the Advancement of Cardiac Therapies, and Datascope Corporation.

I close with optimism and hope for the future because we have vibrant new programs in reseach and education and the percentage of cardiothoracic surgeons who have donated to TSFRE has doubled as compared to 2003. However, industry that makes surgical products and pharmaceuticals can and should give more to TSFRE, and still too few cardiothoracic surgeons have donated. I urge each corporation and each surgeon who has not yet donated to TSFRE to start giving immediately, and we ask that those who have given generously give even more. Such generosity is incumbent on us to insure a bright future for young surgical scientist and excellent care for patients.

John R. Benfield, M.D.