Greetings from the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association (TSRA)! For those of you who are just starting your thoracic surgery residency, we welcome you as members into our association. All residents in thoracic surgery are automatically granted membership into the TSRA and we look forward to working with you over the next 2 to 3 years of your residency.
This is the inaugural newsletter in what I hope becomes a monthly update and tradition. I hope that you will find this newsletter useful and informative. This newsletter will be one way we can keep you up-to-date on the many activities and projects we are working on. In addition, important announcements and updates can be passed along to all of the residents using this forum. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to have something considered to be published in the newsletter.
TSRAnet.org
Most importantly, we would like to use this opportunity to launch our new web site: http://www.tsranet.org/. Please take a moment to go to this website and look around. It is still under construction, but we hope to have it completely finished soon. I envision this web site to be a source of information and a useful resource for thoracic surgery residents.
On this web site you will find our mission statement which tells you more about who we are. You can also find a brief history timeline about how we got started and have evolved over the years. There are useful links and information about contacting us. Each of these newsletters will be published on the website so you can go back and look at previous newsletters. A list of the executive council is available as well as reports from all of the meetings that we attend. This will be archived for future use. Finally, we hope to have a list of all of the thoracic surgery residency program with addresses and names of the program directors. Let me know if you have any suggestions for web content. This site will be updated frequently and look back often for new information.
Mission Statement
The purpose and mission of the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association (TSRA) is to represent the interests of all residents training in cardiothoracic surgery. To that end, this organization was started by residents and continues to be managed autonomously by residents who are still in training programs. All current residents in training in cardiothoracic surgery are automatically granted membership in the TSRA.
The TSRA Executive Council is responsible for managing the activities of the TSRA and for planning future directions for the TSRA. The Executive Council is composed of TSRA representatives who have designated responsibilities with the leading organizations in Thoracic Surgery and Resident Education. A President and Vice-President are elected yearly by the TSRA Executive Council and take the lead role in determining the course of the TSRA.
The TSRA meets twice a year (at the STS and AATS meetings). Our meetings are open to all thoracic surgery residents and we encourage residents to become involved. Please feel free to contact us with your comments, suggestions and feedback.
Executive Committee
TSRA Executive Committee Members 2003-2004
President
Grayson H. Wheatley III, MD
Organization of Resident Representatives (AAMC)
University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center
gwheat@parknet.pmh.org
Past-President
Richard Lee, MD
St. Louis University
leer2@slu.edu
Vice-President
D. Michael McMullan, MD
Society of Thoracic Surgeons
University of Washington
mcmullan@u.washington.edu
American Association for Thoracic Surgery
Dave Helman, MD
Massachussets General Hospital
dhelman@partners.org
Jacob Delarosa, MD
Emory University
delarosa1@aol.com
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Kristine Guleserian, MD
Children�s Hospital Boston
krisgul@aol.com
D. Michael McMullan, MD
University of Washington
mcmullan@u.washington.edu
Jorge Salazar, MD
University of California at San Francisco
salazarj@surgery.ucsf.edu
American Medical Association
Eric Roselli, MD
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
roselle@ccf.org
Organization of Resident Representatives (AAMC)
Erik Beyer, MD
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
erikbeyer@msn.com
Grayson H. Wheatley III, MD
University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center
gwheat@parknet.pmh.org
Thoracic Surgery Residency Review Committee (ACGME)
Russ Ronson, MD
University of Virginia Health Sciences Center
rsr822@yahoo.com
Joint Council on Thoracic Surgery Education
Susan Moffatt-Bruce, MD
Stanford University Medical Center
sdmbl6@hotmail.com
Michael A. Smith, MD
Washington University (Barnes)
smithma@msnotes.wustl.edu
General Surgery Resident
Jason Petrofski, MD
Duke University Medical Center
petro009@mc.duke.edu
Future Directions
We look forward to an exciting year for the TSRA. In addition to the new web site (http://www.tsranet.org/), we have several exciting projects. Jorge Salazar is compiling information about a job search survey which has been administered to graduating residents. We will share this information with you soon. Richard Lee and I are completing a Study of Job Placement by Thoracic Surgery Residency Programs 1997-2002. This is looking at what jobs/fellowships that residents from each program obtained upon graduation. The study is almost complete and we will also share this information with you.
We will have formal meetings of the TSRA at both the STS and AATS meetings this year. More information will be available soon.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to encourage you to get involved in our organization. This is a very important time for residency education and job placement. Please contact me if you are interested in getting involved.
Yours truly,
Grayson H. Wheatley III, M.D.
President, TSRA