University of Alabama at Birmingham Chief of Thoracic Surgery Robert Cerfolio, M.D., will give the 60th annual presidential address at this year’s Southern Thoracic Surgical Association meeting Nov. 2 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Cerfolio’s address is titled “How To Super Perform in Life: The Athleticism of Surgery and Beacons of Light.” It will mark his last duties as 2012-2013 president of the organization.Cerfolio is a world-renowned thoracic surgeon who has performed more than 15,000 operations and more thoracic robotic operations than any other surgeon in the world. These include robotic pulmonary resection and esophageal surgery.
He is recognized as one of the world’s leaders in developing new clinical ways to reduce pain, reduce air leaks, and make operations and clinical pathways more efficient for patients, with less morbidity. He also has devised new ways to teach thoracic surgery.
Cerfolio has hosted more than 200 visiting surgeons from around the world to UAB to observe his novel surgical techniques and his team’s organization and efficiency. He also has been a visiting professor and given 250 lectureships and presentations at major international and national scientific meetings around the globe. Cerfolio has written more than 154 original peer-reviewed articles and more than 50 book chapters, and he is scheduled to release his first nonmedical book, “The Athleticism of Surgery,” in early 2014. In addition, he will complete his MBA degree in December.
The STSA was founded in 1954 with the purpose of disseminating knowledge and information and to encourage and stimulate progress in the fields of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery.
Today, each of the academic society’s members devotes at least 75 percent of his or her practice to these fields. A secondary objective of the STSA is to promote fellowship among the thoracic surgeons represented in the southern United States. This objective is accomplished each year through membership mailings and the Annual Meeting. Although the STSA is a regional society by definition, it represents more than 1,000 cardiothoracic surgeons throughout the United States.
Cerfolio, 51, is one of the youngest presidents of any major cardiothoracic society.