The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) is a renowned not-for-profit professional organization founded in 1964. STS represents more than 7,600 surgeons, researchers, and allied health care professionals worldwide. Their primary focus is on ensuring the best possible outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lungs, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest.

With over 7,700 members in 110 countries, STS is the largest cardiothoracic surgery organization globally. Their mission is to improve the lives of patients with cardiothoracic diseases. They achieve this by providing leadership, quality, professionalism, innovation, and collaboration in the field.

STS offers comprehensive services, including quality, research, and analytics. Their resources and tools assist hospitals and CT surgeons in assessing and benchmarking their performance to enhance quality, safety, and patient outcomes. The STS National Database is widely recognized as the gold standard for CT surgery clinical outcomes registries, with quality performance measures for various cardiac and thoracic surgeries.

Education is another key component of STS's offerings. They provide a range of educational programs, in-person and online courses, digital resources, webinars, podcasts, videos, and the STS Cardiothoracic Surgery E-Book. These programs cater to all sub-specialties and career stages in the cardiothoracic field.

In addition, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, a peer-reviewed journal with a high impact factor, offers original research on patient care, clinical practice, education, and policy in cardiothoracic surgery. STS also takes an active role in advocacy, with a dedicated team in Washington, DC, advocating on policy and regulatory issues affecting cardiothoracic surgeons and their patients. Overall, STS serves as a leading authority in cardiothoracic surgery, offering a wide range of services and resources to support the advancement of patient care, research, and education in the field