Welcome

The Thirty-sixth Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons will be held at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, January 31 – February 2, 2000, preceded by the Thirty-third Postgraduate Program on Sunday, January 30, 2000. These meetings are intended to provide the latest and most complete information on thoracic and cardiovascular surgery to practicing thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons and their paramedical staff, including nurses, perfusionists, physician assistants, and practice administrators.

To celebrate the end of the millennium and the rapid worldwide progress that has been made within thoracic surgery, several special events are planned for this year’s Annual Meeting. On Saturday, January 29, there will be a cruise along the Intra-coastal Waterway followed later that evening by an elegant black-tie dinner to honor the strong working partnership between the STS and EACTS . Following the Postgraduate Program on Sunday, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., there will be an International Symposium which will be conducted entirely in Spanish or Portuguese. Prior to the start of the meeting on Monday morning, there will be a gala ceremony to initiate the meeting.

The Sunday Postgraduate Program will consist of twelve presentations on subjects of current interest covering the breadth of the specialty. Once again this year’s program will utilize an interactive audience response system to develop instant attendee response to presenter questions. A limited number of response units will be available on a first come-first served basis. Both the morning and afternoon sessions have been designed to cover the most recent information in treating adult acquired, general thoracic and congenital disease. Special effort is made to provide practical information as well as the latest data from research activities. The morning session will conclude with the CCCETS Basic Science Lecture. The CCCETS Lecture is from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and by tradition will be open to all those registered for the Annual Meeting. Following the Postgraduate Luncheon Address, the afternoon session will continue with presentations on a variety of subjects of interest. Registration for the Postgraduate Program is separate from the Annual Meeting: the fee is $120 per person.

The Program Committee is very pleased with the response to the abstract call, counting 700 abstracts submitted which represents an all time high number of submissions. Both the quantity and high quality of the abstracts submitted made possible the development of a program that represents all aspects of adult and pediatric cardiac surgery and general thoracic surgery. Breakout sessions which have been used successfully in past meetings, will be continued this year. In addition, there will be two special evening symposiums held between the close of Monday’s Scientific Session and the Movie Night presentations. Women in Thoracic Surgery will provide information and insights into the contribution of women to the field of thoracic surgery. The Medico-Legal Symposium will review issues of importance to all practicing thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons.

The popular Poster Sessions will continue to include moderated presentations of all poster exhibits. Tuesday and Wednesday morning poster presentations will provide an opportunity to review and discuss the posters which cover the breadth of general thoracic, adult cardiac, and potpourri. The posters will be on display through Tuesday in the exhibit area, but will be relocated to the meeting room for their presentations on either Tuesday or Wednesday morning.

The Monday morning plenary session begins with the presentation of the J. Maxwell Chamberlain Memorial Paper awarded to the first paper on the program, and concludes with the Presidential Address by Dr. Nicholas T. Kouchoukos. The afternoon program will consist of three parallel surgical forums, “Research I,” “Research II,” and “General Thoracic Research” running simultaneously from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Annual Business Meeting (for members only) will follow.

The Movie Night presentations and the Members and Guests Reception will be on Monday and Tuesday evenings respectively. This year the Committee has received 50 film submissions for the Annual Movie Night making it possible to develop an excellent program representative of all aspects of the specialty. The movie session will be 8:00 p.m. Monday evening in the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center. The Buffet Reception for Members and Guests will be at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening, also at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center.

Also Tuesday morning, the Ralph Alley Lecture, “The Hammer, the Sickle, and the Scalpel–A Cardiac Surgeon’s View of Eastern Europe,” will be delivered by Hans G. Borst, Munich, Germany. The afternoon program is comprised of parallel surgical forums running from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. Session I will include “General Thoracic I” followed by “General Thoracic II.” Session II includes “Ischemic Heart Disease and Great Vessels” and “Congenital”, and Session III comprises “Adult Cardiac I” and “Adult Cardiac II and Transplantation.”

This year the popular breakfast sessions will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Tuesday morning, the Clinical Workshops will be offered. On Wednesday the Meet the Experts Sessions and Technical-How I Do It Sessions will be held. Enrollment for these morning sessions will be limited to 40; you may sign up during on-site registration if you wish to attend these sessions.

On Tuesday morning a Patient Advocacy/Public Affairs and Media Affairs Activities Update will be presented. You must preregister for this program. A continental breakfast will be provided.

The Program Committee believes that a superb and extensive scientific program has been developed. We are excited about the innovations in the program and welcome feedback from members regarding these changes, as well as suggestions for future improvements.

Program Committee
John W. Brown, Co-Chair	David A. Fullerton
Mark K. Ferguson, Co-Chair	Kirk R. Kanter
Hartzell V. Schaff, Co-Chair	Constantine Mavroudis
W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr.	Douglas E. Wood
Claude Deschamps
Committee on Postgraduate Education
Michael J. Mack, Co-Chair	Kent W. Jones
Jorge A. Wernly, Co-Chair	G. Alexander Patterson
Andrew C. Fiore	Valerie W. Rusch
Local Arrangements Committee
Robert E. Cline, Chair	Charles L. Byrd
Mathis L. Becker	Imad F. Tabry
Stuart L. Boe