Why give to TSF


The combination of research and new technology, which go hand-in-hand, have advanced the capabilities of thoracic surgeons dramatically over the past two decades. Today, thoracic surgeons can very successfully treat diseases and medical conditions that were a short time ago deemed untreatable. The financial resources that made these advances possible were most often large private organizations or federal agencies. Within the thoracic surgical specialty clinical work supported the bulk of research.

The changing health care environment and radical transformation within industry have diminished those traditional sources of funds dramatically and research and training opportunities for young, talented surgeon-scientists have been sharply curtailed.

TSF remains committed to research, recognizing that it is today’s research that is the practice of tomorrow. Without the thousands of research hours and millions of dollars, new surgical techniques and today’s miracle drugs would remain undiscovered. Hundreds of thousands of lives would be adversely affected.

The results of thoracic research ultimately reduce the toll of thoracic diseases and defects. Given the pervasiveness of cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer, today’s research has the potential to improve millions of lives tomorrow. The TSF’s partnerships with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute are critically important initiatives to further our knowledge and capabilities against these diseases, while strongly supporting very talented surgeon-scientists within the specialty.

The Foundation recognizes that education plays a vital role in the future of our specialty. Thus, the TSF will continue to support thoracic surgeons in acquiring the transdisciplinary skills necessary for success in the years and decades ahead, develop new training programs that will utilize simulation activities for thoracic surgery, and create an emphasis on patient safety within the specialty. The TSF will also remain active in assuring that thoracic surgeons continue to develop the skills necessary to remain in the forefront as health care policy leaders.

The Thoracic Surgery Foundation is an organization that will continue to steer the future of thoracic surgery through the sponsorship of surgical research and the education of surgeons in health care policy. TSF is your foundation for the future; by supporting TSF you are investing in the future of our specialty now.