Host Dr. Melanie Edwards is joined by guest Dr. Andrea Wolf, director of the New York Mesothelioma Program, professor of thoracic surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, chair of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Wellness Committee, and an accomplished marathoner. Dr. Wolf explores how the mindset and discipline of distance running can strengthen resilience, performance, and career longevity in surgery. Drawing from her own experiences with running and injury, Dr. Wolf discusses the value of focusing on process over outcomes, prioritizing recovery and strength training, and building sustainable habits that support both surgeon well-being and patient care. She also shares insights on workplace ergonomics, mentorship, and challenging the culture of pushing through physical limitations.

In this episode of the STS Thinking Thoracic podcast, host Dr. Jeff Yang is joined by thoracic surgeons Dr. Seth Krantz and Dr. Christopher Seder, along with Harvard medical student Alexandra Potter, to discuss three landmark studies using the STS General Thoracic Surgery Database that are reshaping how lymph node evaluation is performed in lung cancer surgery. The panel explores current guidelines, quality standards, and how more comprehensive nodal evaluation can improve staging accuracy while maintaining patient safety. The discussion highlights national trends in surgical quality, the importance of surgeon-pathologist collaboration, and the future of personalized lymph node evaluation, including the potential role of emerging technologies such as radiomics, genomic markers, and AI.

Effective leadership requires the ability to bring together individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. In this blog post, Evan Alicuben, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, reflects on a recent STS Leadership Institute session on leading diverse teams and implicit bias, where case-based discussions with peers explored practical approaches to fostering inclusion and navigating challenging workplace situations. Dr. Alicuben writes, "Only by purposefully leading will we bring success to a diverse team."

Jonathan Villena-Vargas, MD, sits down with Erin Gillaspie, MD, to examine key findings from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, including advances in targeted therapy, dual-pathway immunotherapy, artificial intelligence, and adaptive treatment strategies that are reshaping thoracic oncology.

In this special joint episode of the STS Thinking Thoracic podcast and the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (AABIP), Dr. Erin Gillaspie is joined by interventional pulmonologist Dr. Sameer Avasarala, of University Hospitals, and head and neck surgeon Dr. Britney Scott, of the CHI Health Clinic, to discuss the multidisciplinary management of malignant airway obstruction. The conversation emphasizes multidisciplinary collaboration among specialists, noting that treatment decisions depend not only on anatomy but also on patient-specific factors such as frailty, pulmonary function, and overall cardiopulmonary status. Using a top-to-bottom anatomic approach, the discussion explores management of tumors involving the upper trachea, mid-trachea, and carina, covering bronchoscopy, tumor debulking, stenting, tracheostomy, and surgical resection. They also discuss preoperative planning, postoperative airway care, and the value of multidisciplinary tumor boards and real-time collaboration.

In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Sara Pereira and Dr. Ian Bostock celebrate the 20th anniversary and impact of the STS Looking to the Future (LTTF) Scholarship Program by speaking with three rising stars pursuing careers in cardiothoracic surgery: Tyler Wilson, MD, a general surgery resident at the University of Chicago; Molly Shields, MD, a general surgery resident at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; and Tyrone Hill, a medical student at Meharry Medical College. Reflecting on their unique journeys into medicine, the LTTF scholars share how attending the STS Annual Meeting and participating in the scholarship program provided invaluable access to mentors, expanded their professional networks, and reinforced their confidence in pursuing a highly competitive specialty. The guests share their perspectives on wellness, family planning, and maintaining outside interests like running, cooking, and camping. They emphasize that success in cardiothoracic surgery isn't a single path, but is built on resilience, community, and mentorship—illustrating how programs like Looking to the Future make the specialty more inclusive and supportive for aspiring surgeons.

In this STS Career Development Blog, Dr. Melanie Subramanian explores key takeaways from the most recent STS Compensation Survey through the lens of early-career surgeons. She discusses rising compensation, why job satisfaction extends beyond salary, the persistence of the gender pay gap despite improvement, and how the survey empowers surgeons to negotiate and advocate for themselves.

In Part 2 of Thinking Thoracic's annual review of the year's most influential thoracic oncology research, Drs. Jeff Yang and Linda Martin examine practice-changing studies in perioperative care, lung cancer treatment, and multidisciplinary cancer management. The discussion covers emerging evidence on cryoanalgesia, preoperative fasting, targeted therapies for EGFR-mutated lung cancer, and other key clinical trials and consensus recommendations that are influencing patient care today.

In Part 1 of this special Thinking Thoracic episode, Dr. Jeff Yang welcomes Dr. Linda Martin for a discussion of groundbreaking research spanning immunotherapy, lung cancer epidemiology, and screening. Together, they explore emerging organ-preserving strategies for mismatch repair-deficient cancers, the growing population of patients with lung cancer who have never smoked, and new data highlighting opportunities to improve screening eligibility and uptake. Hear expert analysis of the studies shaping the future of thoracic oncology and what these findings mean for surgeons and patients alike.

Cohosts Dr. Sara Pereira and Dr. Fatima Wilder are joined by guest Dr. J.W. Awori Hayanga—professor of cardiothoracic surgery at West Virginia University, director of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute ECMO Program, and a nationally recognized leader in transplantation, health policy, and artificial intelligence in medicine—for a wide-ranging conversation about mentorship, resilience, and purpose. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Hayanga reflects on the profound influence of his lawyer parents, especially his mother, whose pioneering work in microfinance and women’s empowerment shaped his worldview and commitment to service. He shares the challenges of immigrating to the United States for medical training, navigating the uncertainty of visa status as an international medical graduate, and learning how relationships, mentorship, and persistence can open doors throughout a surgical career. The conversation also explores the growing role of artificial intelligence and robotics in cardiothoracic surgery, along with candid insights on leadership, emotional intelligence, failure, and staying grounded through the demands of academic medicine.