EDITORIALS

The Looking to the Future Medical Student

Program: Recruiting Tomorrow’s Leaders
Rishindra M. Reddy, MD, Anthony W. Kim, MD, David T. Cooke, MD,
Stephen C. Yang, MD, Ara Vaporciyan, MD, and Robert S. D. Higgins, MD, MSHA
Section of Thoracic Surgery, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Section of Thoracic Surgery, Yale University
School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Davis Medical Center, University of California,
Sacramento, California; Division of Thoracic Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; and Division of Cardiac Surgery, Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio

A t the 2006 Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) annual

meeting, the first Looking to the Future (LTTF) group
of general surgery residents matriculated through a pro-
Force, expanded the LTTF program to include medical
students who are interested in, but not yet committed to,
a career in cardiothoracic surgery.
gram designed to encourage residents who are consid- The inaugural year for the medical student LTTF pro-
ering, but not yet committed to, a career in cardiothoracic gram was at the 2011 STS annual meeting in San Diego,
surgery. As the program has matured, more scholarships California, with 82 medical students applying in the fall of
have been awarded with a high success rate of encour- 2010 for 10 awards. The selection criteria for the medical
aging residents to apply for thoracic surgery residency students mirrored the criteria established for general
programs. Medical student scholarships were added for surgery residents, notably: (1) medical students interested
the 2011 STS annual meeting, and have resulted in sig- in, but not committed to thoracic surgery; (2) preference
nificant excitement among students and STS leadership given to students from institutions lacking a thoracic
alike by directly engaging those who may possibly apply surgery residency program; (3) limiting the scholarship to
for integrated 6-year (I-6) residency positions. The one awardee per institution per year and attempting to
methods for mentoring and educating medical students minimize the repetition of institutions in consecutive
are different from methods used for general surgery years; and (4) create a diverse group based on sex,
resident scholarship winners. The future of the LTTF background, geographic area, and subspecialty interest.
program is dependent upon translating this excitement The first 10 medical students arrived in San Diego in 2011
from a national to a local level. and participated in a unique program designed specif-
The LTTF program for surgery residents had been co- ically for them. They were also assigned faculty mentors
ordinated by Robert S. D. Higgins and Stephen C. Yang, (as were the general surgery residents), but a more
cochairs of the Best and Brightest Task Force (since formalized program was developed to educate the med-
renamed the LTTF Task Force), within the Workforce on ical students about a career in cardiothoracic surgery and
Graduate Medical Education (since renamed the Work- to introduce them to different levels and lifestyles within
force on Thoracic Surgery Resident Issues). From 2006 to the specialty. Given their younger age and more limited
2012, general surgery resident scholarship recipients experience in attending a national medical meeting, the
were assigned mentors for the STS annual meeting and medical students were deliberately provided with more
participated in a variety of programs, including Tech- structure on site to enhance their exposure to various
Con, the STS President’s Reception, and thoracic sur- educational didactics and to increase their interactions
gery resident-specific events. In 2006, the first year of the with practicing surgeons.
program, there were 66 applications for 10 awards. The The first year of the medical student LTTF program
success from the initial program in generating enthu- appeared to engender even more enthusiasm, and given
siasm from both general surgery residents and faculty the larger number of applicants for the medical student
across the country led to an increased number of awards program than for the resident program (82 versus 63), the
being coordinated and funded through Dr Higgins’ and number of medical student scholarships was increased to
Dr Yang’s task force. Applications increased to 83 for 20 20 in for the 2012 STS annual meeting. In the fall of 2011,
awards in 2008. In 2009, there was a decrease in the 97 applications for the medical student program were
number of applications to 48, despite an increase in received, versus 70 general surgery applications. In 2012,
funding for 27 scholarships. During this period, the there were 84 medical student applicants, again out-
development and promotion of an I-6 thoracic surgery numbering the 73 general surgery resident applicants.
residency program was being finalized by the American Twenty medical students, ranging from first year to
Board of Thoracic Surgery and the Residency Review fourth year, were selected to attend the 2012 and 2013 STS
Committee. The Workforce on Graduate Medical Edu- annual meetings (Fig 1). There was a notable increase in
cation, in conjunction with the Best and Brightest Task the competitiveness of the applicants, with students
applying from all over the country and from a diverse
Address correspondence to Dr Reddy, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, TC group of institutions, including those with strong thoracic
2120/5344, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5344; e-mail: [email protected]. surgery residency programs and those without a thoracic

Ó 2014 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Ann Thorac Surg 2014;97:741–3
0003-4975/$36.00
Published by Elsevier Inc http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2013.09.117
742 EDITORIAL REDDY ET AL Ann Thorac Surg
RECRUITING TOMORROW’S LEADERS 2014;97:741–3

Fig 1. Looking to the Future Program resi-

dent and student applicants and scholarship
recipients from 2006 to 2013. Internal pro-
gram data from The Society of Thoracic
Surgeons. (Blue bars ¼ surgery resident ap-
plicants; red bars ¼ surgery resident schol-
arships; green bars ¼ medical student
applicants; purple bars ¼ medical student
scholarships.)

surgery residency program. An increased interest in medical student agendas started on Saturday night with
thoracic surgery at the medical student level mirrors the an informal group dinner for medical students and their
national data as seen in the number of traditional 2-year mentors, followed by programming coordinated by fac-
and 3-year thoracic surgery residency program and I-6 ulty. Sunday morning has been the focus of the overall
thoracic surgery residency program applications (Fig 2) [1]. agenda, with a 4-hour program including talks dedicated
Owing to the variable exposure to cardiothoracic sur- to the history of cardiothoracic surgery addressing mis-
gery in medical school, and the goal of seeking out perceptions of the field, planning for the fourth year of
medical students without significant local cardiothoracic medical school with an interest in cardiothoracic surgery,
surgery mentors, the LTTF medical student program has and a panel presentation by residents or faculty (Table 1).
been tailored to provide increased one-on-one time with The remainder of Sunday involved Tech-Con, a separate
faculty mentors and to offer a dedicated introductory LTTF reception for both the general surgery residents and
program about cardiothoracic surgery. The 2012 and 2013 medical students, and the STS President’s Reception that

Fig 2. National residency matching pro-

gram data on thoracic surgery integrated
and fellowship applications and matricula-
tion from 2007 to 2012 [1]. (blue bars ¼
traditional thoracic surgery applicants; red
bars ¼ traditional 2- to 3-year positions;
green bars ¼ medical integrated 6-year [I-6]
thoracic applicants; purple bars ¼ I-6
positions.)
Ann Thorac Surg EDITORIAL REDDY ET AL 743
2014;97:741–3 RECRUITING TOMORROW’S LEADERS

Table 1. 2012 Medical Student Sunday Program

Lecturer Talk

Robert S. D. Higgins Introductions

David T. Cooke Cardiothoracic surgeons as innovators
Anthony W. Kim Life as a young cardiothoracic surgeon
Panel session (various residents) Perspectives from I6 and traditional CT surgery residents
Rishindra M. Reddy Planning for a career in cardiothoracic surgery
Stephen C. Yang Questions and answers, closing remarks

CT ¼ cardiothoracic.

evening. Monday and Tuesday’s events began with a from this group included “[the] more exposure that sur-
7:00 AM 60-minute question and answer session with a gery residents get in thoracic [the] more likely they will go
LTTF faculty member, and then attendance at plenary into the field”, and “[the] STS can help dispel the myth
session lectures, including the Presidential Address and that CT surgery is a dying field.”
other named lectures. On Monday, scholarship recipients The LTTF medical student program has been a unique
attended the thoracic surgery residents association opportunity to gather students at a national level and to
luncheon, which covers topics relevant to thoracic sur- educate and motivate them toward a career in cardio-
gery residents such as career advice, finding a job, and so thoracic surgery. The first year of the program resulted in
forth. In 2012 and 2013, Women in Thoracic Surgery 82 applicants from 47 different schools. More than half of
(WTS) has invited LTTF scholarship recipients, along the accepted participants in the medical student program
with their own scholars, to their hosted reception and have been women. It will require a few more years of
invited lecturer on Monday night. The medical student follow-up with the medical student participants to assess
agenda has ended by Tuesday midday with students the effectiveness in cultivating their long-term interest in
returning to their medical schools. Mentors were asked to our field. This program is not cost effective for recruiting
take their students to dinner on Monday night, resulting all potential future trainees. We must translate this
in cardiothoracic faculty involvement on Saturday, Sun- enthusiasm and mentorship to a local level, involving all
day, and Monday nights for each medical student. thoracic surgeons, at both academic and nonacademic
The results of the overall LTTF program are clearly practices. It is clear that even at medical schools without a
positive so far. For the general surgery resident program, thoracic training program, there is a significant interest in
Dr Yang presented “interim” results to the Thoracic thoracic surgery (25 of the 97 applicants in 2012). The
Surgery Directors Association general session in 2009. organizing committee for the LTTF medical student pro-
With only 4 years’ worth of awards, 53 different in- gram will continue to engage students, and looks forward
stitutions have sent a general surgery resident to partic- to increasing the participation by all thoracic surgeons.
ipate in LTTF. More than a third of the participants were
women, compared with only 14.2% of applicants to
thoracic surgery residency programs in 2008 [2]. More
than 80% of participants who were still in general surgery References
residencies had either matched or were applying to 1. Results and data: 2012 main residency match and results and
thoracic surgery residency programs. It is unclear how data: specialties matching service, 2012 appointment year.
many people were truly interested in thoracic surgery at Available at: http://www.nrmp.org/data/index.html. Accessed
March 1, 2013.
baseline, but the LTTF program either attracted many 2. The American College of Surgeons Health Policy Research
people to the field or served as a retention tool to prevent Institute surgical workforce report 2010. Available at: http://
general surgery residents from losing interest. Comments www.acshpri.org. Accessed March 1, 2013.