President's Message

Our patients don’t follow the details of our research. They don’t discuss unexpected breakthroughs or technical setbacks. They are not always aware of how changes in health care policies impact research funding and lab time. Nonetheless, the advances we make in thoracic surgery touch each and every one of them. New surgical techniques and potent new drugs improve patient health and extend patient lives.

That is an outcome everyone can understand, and it’s the one that has continued to push TSFRE forward since its inception in 1991.

The Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education was founded by the four major thoracic surgery organizations: American Association for Thoracic Surgery, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, The Southern Thoracic Surgical Association and the Western Thoracic Surgical Association. As it was 16 years ago, the Foundation’s mission is to support research and education in thoracic surgery.

The Foundation, however, has not only maintained its position as a leading supporter of research and education, it has also expanded its reach. The Foundation in the past few years has established a comprehensive development program, improved its public policy training opportunities for surgeons and partnered with other Foundations such as the LUNGevity Foundation to
improve support for research training.

Perhaps most importantly, the Foundation has chosen to play a leading role in changing the current training paradigm for thoracic surgeons by becoming a founding organization of the Joint Council on Thoracic Surgery Education (JCTSE). Along with the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), TSFRE has committed its resources to support and empower the JCTSE to overhaul the current thoracic surgery training program and coordinate all thoracic
surgery education in the United States.

I hope that you continue your support of today’s research so we can serve our patients with even better techniques and technology tomorrow. I urge each of you who have not given to the Foundation in the past to do so now, and if you have given generously in the past I ask that you consider another gift at this time. Such generosity will help us insure a bright future for young surgical scientists and excellent care for our patients.

Thank you.

Michael J. Mack, M.D.
President, Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education

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