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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2005;129:483-487
© 2005 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Presidential Address

Presidential address: An evolving discipline

Vaughn A. Starnes, MD*

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif

Read at the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of The Western Thoracic Surgical Association, Maui, Hawaii, June 23-26, 2004.

Received for publication June 30, 2004; revisions received November 3, 2004; accepted for publication November 5, 2004.

* Address for reprints: Vaughn A. Starnes, MD, Hastings Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, 1520 San Pablo St, HCC2 Suite 4300, Los Angeles, CA 90033 (E-mail: vstarnes@usc.edu).

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

As I was debating and reflecting on what I would say today, I thought about my own personal experiences in cardiothoracic surgery and how so much has changed from the time I was a farm boy in North Carolina to becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon and now president of The Western Thoracic Surgical Association. I first recognize the great opportunities this wonderful profession has given me. For me, this was the American dream. Believing in this promise, I refuse to fall victim to the current era of despair in our profession: the complaints of reimbursement being too low, cardiologists taking all our business away, HMOs dictating patient care, our graduates unable to find jobs, and some of our colleagues believing our specialty has seen its golden years come and gone. All of these complaints do have some element of validity, but to effect change and alter the current circumstances, we have to understand more fully the sequence of events leading to these concerns. First, I accept the concept of change and know the only constancy is change. Therefore, I do not give into the psychology of the golden years of cardiothoracic surgery. Instead, I believe in the concept of cardiothoracic surgery as an evolving discipline and as such have much to look forward to. These times bring to mind a quotation from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart."


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As an evolving discipline, we need to understand the acrimony. Is the golden age past? The short answer is no. As a specialty, we are cardiac, thoracic, congenital, and vascular surgeons. Cardiac surgeons have to be careful not to imply the entire specialty is . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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