(New) STS Funded Research

• Principal Investigator (PI) Requirements and Limits:  
  • A PI requesting STS research funding must be an STSND participant in good standing.  
    • Find more information on becoming an STSND participant.  
  • A PI can have only one approved/active STS Funded project at any given time, where active means a manuscript has not yet been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.  
  • A PI can have only one active STS Funded proposal application.  
• Institutional Limits: A maximum of two active STS Funded projects per institution per specialty registry is permitted.

Investigators planning to submit an application will need the following information:

1. STS National Database Participant ID: The 5-digit number corresponding to the investigator's active participant institution in the Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD), Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), or the 4-letter code in case of Intermacs/Pedimacs participants.  
   1. The STSND ID provided must correspond to the specialty registry that will be used in the research proposed by the investigative team; e.g., General Thoracic proposals should provide an ID corresponding to the GTSD.
2. Principal Investigator contact information and biosketch (NIH format preferred – 5 pages max);  
3. File identifying any co-investigators (if applicable) and their contact information (e.g., email address);
4. File providing a full description of the research plan. The following sections must be included:  

Research Plan

1. Study Background 
2. Overview -

     2.1 Research Question, Aims, & Hypotheses

• Provide clear, descriptive aims that are feasible to address in one abstract and one manuscript. 
  
  2.2 Rationale for Research Question

3. Study Plan/Approach 
        3.1   Study Patients

• Provide a clear logic for patient inclusion and exclusion criteria.  
• Make sure to include study years and corresponding database versions.  
• Specific database fields/variables (including sequence number and variable short names) and corresponding inclusion or exclusion “value” should be clearly indicated for each database version in your desired study time frame.  
• Consult with your team and use “AND” and “OR” statements to construct your logic.
  
            3.1.1   Study Inclusion Criteria  
             3.1.2   Study Exclusion Criteria  

3.1.3. Endpoints and Outcomes  

• Indicate whether only 30-day outcomes will be examined (and if so, specify which ones).
• Indicate if longitudinal follow-up/outcomes are proposed (e.g., CMS and/or NDI linkage)

3.2 Statistical Methods and Analysis Plan  

• Be as specific as possible.  
• Provide shell tables for anticipated presentation of results. Shell tables are required. Applications without shell tables and detailed proposed analysis plans may be less competitive.
• All data elements required to conduct the proposed analyses must be available within the STSND or through planned linkages.
• Examples of shell tables can be found 
  here.

3.3 Dissemination Plans

STS strongly suggests that investigators target the STS Annual Meeting and The Annals of Thoracic Surgery as the meeting and publication forums, respectively, for dissemination of research using the STSND.  

           3.3.1 Peer-reviewed Journal to which submission is anticipated (if any)
           3.3.2 National meetings at which abstract presentation is anticipated (if any)

An example of a successful STS Funded application is available here. 

Administrative Review – All submitted applications undergo administrative review by the STS RAC to confirm principal investigator (PI) eligibility (see Eligibility and Guidelines above), application completeness, and potential scientific overlap. The STS RAC communicates the results of this review to the respective Research Task Force chair, who determines whether a proposal advances to feasibility assessment.  

• The STS Research Task Force reserves the right to decline feasible and scientifically sound proposals if a similar proposal on the same topic has previously been approved. Investigators are strongly encouraged to review the Current Projects and Published Research web pages before submitting a full proposal.  

Feasibility Assessment Review – Proposals that successfully pass administrative review will proceed to an initial feasibility assessment. The results of this feasibility assessment are shared with the respective Research Task Force chair, who determines whether the proposal is feasible and should advance to full Research Task Force review. The PI will be notified of a final decision once available.  

Research Task Force Review – Proposals are evaluated by the respective Research Task Force for scientific merit and impact on cardiothoracic surgery. The Research Task Force collectively determines which proposals are selected for STS funding and may assign a mentor to support approved projects, as appropriate.

Refer to the STS Funded Processes and Procedures Document for detailed information regarding the STS Funded proposal review process and submit your application today.  

For more information, contact the STS Research and Analytic Center.