The North American view: the perspective of the American Association for Thoracic Surgeons.

Abstract

The American Association for Thoracic Surgeons (AATS) is a small, selective organization focused on scholarship in thoracic surgery, complementing the Society of Thoracic Surgeon's focus on practice issues impacting all practicing surgeons. AATS works to improve the academic quality of North American and International meetings and symposia and focuses specific lobbying efforts on improving National Institutes of Health funding for thoracic surgeons. We need to embrace new technologies and incorporate them into our training programmes, and to cultivate the creativity necessary for innovation. It is necessary to make residents and medical students more aware of the virtues of a career in our specialty and focus less on making the training process more attractive for its own sake.