To the Editor:
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The Journal policy requires editors and reviewers to disclose conflicts of interest and to decline handling or reviewing manuscripts for which they may have a conflict of interest. The editors and reviewers of this article have no conflicts of interest.
We congratulate current, incoming, and past Presidents of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) on their article1 highlighting the upcoming AATS Annual Meeting that has been converted to a virtual format amidst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The mission of the AATS has evolved since its founding more than 100 years ago to “Promote Scholarship, Innovation, and Leadership for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery,” with the Association's core values being “Leadership, Education, Research and Innovation, Excellence in Patient Care, and Mentoring.”
Looking toward its 100th Annual Meeting, AATS continues to lead the way as one of the first cardiothoracic surgery meetings to transition to a virtual format. This will provide the world with complimentary access to live-streaming during the virtual Annual Meeting May 22-23, 2020, as well as educational material that will live on virtually in an asynchronous, on-demand format. This approach allows for cutting-edge research and scholarship to continue to be disseminated and shared despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it democratizes the spread and reach of information beyond the walls of the would-have-been convention center to all areas of the globe via the Web—unlimited by geographic, financial, or travel barriers—effectively expanding the AATS's global educational footprint. Further, allowing the material to be recorded and available for months into the future promotes both synchronous and asynchronous learning, bridging geographic and time-zone divides.
The Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network (TSSMN) is a social media collaborative formed in 2015 to bring social media attention to key publications from both The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, highlighting major accomplishments in the specialty.2 Social media has an important role for cardiothoracic surgeons to create one's own online identity, educate patients, interact with policymakers, collaborate with other health professionals, mentor trainees, as well as herald the scientific and clinical achievements of our specialty.3 , 4 Twitter has been shown previously to enhance communication and information dissemination at conferences via “tweeting the meeting.” Live-tweeting a conference allows for real-time international discussions surrounding the scholarly activity presented and broadens the discussion venue by engaging both attendees and nonattendees of meetings, both synchronously and asynchronously.5
Now more than ever, the mission of the AATS can be facilitated by enhanced social media dissemination of education, research, networking, and mentorship, as well as scholarship. Thus, we enthusiastically invite the AATS membership, attendees of the 100th AATS Annual Meeting, and readers of the Journal to join the TSSMN's commitment to highlight thoracic surgery scholarship on Twitter by live-tweeting this virtual meeting. A step-by-step primer on how to live-tweet a conference has been previously published by our group.5 Key handles and hashtags for live-tweeting the 100th AATS Annual Meeting are provided (Table 1 ). If you have any questions, please reach out to any member of the TSSMN team. We look forward to your participation and contributions to live-tweeting the 100th AATS Annual Meeting Virtual Learning Experience with the hashtag #AATS2020.
Table 1.
Handles and hashtags relevant for the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Annual Meeting
| Categories | Handle and/or hashtag |
|---|---|
| AATS Annual Meeting | |
| The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) | @AATSHQ |
| 100th AATS Annual Meeting | #AATS2020 |
| The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery | @AATSJournals #JTCVS |
| Other cardiothoracic surgery societies and journals | |
| Society of Thoracic Surgeons | @STS_CTSurgery |
| Annals of Thoracic Surgery | @annalsthorsurg |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery Network | @ctsnetorg |
| Thoracic Surgery Foundation | @CTSurgeryFdn |
| Women in Thoracic Surgery | @WomenInThoracic |
| Thoracic Surgery Residents Association | @TSRA_official |
| Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network and delegates | |
| The Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network | @TSSMN #TSSMN |
| Mara Antonoff | @maraantonoff |
| Michael Archer | @archerm2 |
| Rakesh Arora | @TheRakeshArora |
| Edward Bender | @ebender001 |
| Arie Blitz | @ArieBlitzMD |
| David Cooke | @DavidCookeMD |
| Stefan Elde | @elde_md |
| Sloane Guy | @sloaneguy |
| Alison Halpern | @ahalpernunc |
| Caitlin Harrington | @CHarringtonMD |
| Biniam Kidane | @biniamkidaneMD |
| Jessica Luc | @JessicaLuc1 |
| Tamara Nihlci | @tamaranihlci |
| Jackie Olive | @JackieKOlive |
| Maral Ouzounian | @OuzounianMD |
| Nikki Stamp | @drnikkistamp |
| Tom Varghese | @TomVargheseJr |
| Dominique Vervoort | @DVervoort94 |
References
- 1.Moon M.R., Jones D.R., Adams D.H., Starnes V.A. American Association for Thoracic Surgery: maintaining the mission during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2020;160:737–739. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2020.05.022. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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