TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery
The Thoracic Surgery Residents Association is pleased to offer a fellowship for North American cardiothoracic surgery residents and fellows. The TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery is intended to be a self-sustaining, annual award given to one recipient to fund a one week traveling observership to a host institution with host faculty member. Awardees will receive up to $5,000 to help offset expenses including travel, housing, and any additional ancillary costs.
The program’s goals and objectives are to:
- augment fellowship recipient’s training experience in cardiothoracic surgery by providing an opportunity to gain unique exposure to specialized areas of cardiothoracic surgery;
- facilitate the development of unique mentoring relationships between fellowship recipient and host faculty;
- facilitate early career direction and development; and
- recognize excellence in cardiothoracic surgery training.
The Program will fund a recipient to travel to a designated host institution for a one-week observership and mentored experience with a designated host faculty member. The host faculty member will be selected from a list of faculty that have committed to participating in the TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship program and have institutional support to host the fellowship recipient for a one-week experience. The host faculty member and institution will commit to providing a personal and individualized experience for the fellowship recipient with emphasis on a particular area of specialty for which they are well-recognized within the cardiothoracic community (e.g., minimally invasive surgery, robotics, TAVR, complex aortic repair, congenital cardiac surgery, etc.). In addition to a surgical experience, it will be highly encouraged for the host faculty to engage the fellowship recipient in other mentored activities (i.e., conferences, preoperative planning opportunities, luncheons, other faculty introductions, etc.) to augment the fellowship experience.
Travel must occur within the recipient’s CT surgery training period and completed before the recipient’s last day of CT surgery training at the residency program which they were enrolled at the time of application. Exclusions may apply for extenuating circumstances and require a formal letter of request, a letter of approval and support from the host surgeon/institution, and approval of TSRA and TSDA leadership.
Applicants are required to submit the materials listed below by 11:59 p.m. ET, December 1, 2023.
Completed applications must include the following in a single PDF:
- Current curriculum vitae;
- Letter of support from program director;
- Personal statement (200 word limit) indicating how the applicant would plan to use the fellowship to his/her educational betterment.
A recipient will be selected by the TSRA Executive Committee from a pool of finalists on the basis of merit. The 2024 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery Recipient will be notified in December 2023 and the Fellowship will be announced during the STS 2023 Annual Meeting. The Fellowship will occur between February and May 2024 pending scheduling for the awardee and host. (Travel dates may vary during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
E-mail any questions and submit completed applications to Anna Olds, TSRA Vice President, at anna.olds@med.usc.edu.
2024 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Sarah A. Chen, MD, University of California, Davis
Host Institution: University of Michigan
2023 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Jessica G.Y. Luc, MD, University of British Columbia
Host Institution: University of Ottawa Heart Institute
2022 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Natalie Bahatyrevich, MD, University of California, Davis
Host Institution: Stanford Health Care
2021 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Jason Han, MD, University of Pennsylvania
Host Faculty: Tom Nguyen, MD
Host Institution: University of California, San Francisco
2020 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Chetan Pasrija, MD, University of Maryland
Host Faculty: Shaf Keshavjee , MD
Host Institution: University of Toronto
Photo Credit: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
2019 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang, MD, Stanford University
Host Faculty: Gail Darling, MD
Host Institution: University of Toronto
Photo Credit: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
2018 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Heidi Reich, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Host Faculty: Teresa Kieser, MD
Host Institution: University of Calgary
Photo Credit: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
2017 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Taufiek Konrad Rajab, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Host Faculty: Shaf Keshavjee, MD
Host Institution: Toronto General Hospital
Photo Credit: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
2016 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Recipient: Brian Mitzman, MD, University of Chicago
Host Faculty: Robert Cerfolio, MD
Host Institution: University of Alabama
Photo Credit: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
2015 TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship 
Recipient: Arminder S. Jassar, MBBS, University of Pennsylvania
Host Faculty: Joseph Coselli, MD
Host Institution: Texas Heart Institute/Baylor College of Medicine
Photo Credit: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
The TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship requires significant financial support to ensure its success and longevity. Show your support of TSRA by making a donation today. TSRA is part of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association (TSDA), a 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions are tax-deductible.
You are also welcome to send a check made payable to the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association to:
TSDA/TSRA
633 N. St. Clair Street
Suite 2100
Chicago, IL 60611
Attn: TSRA/STS Traveling Fellowship
Click here to download a donation form.