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AATS Meeting Travel Awards

American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Applicant Requirements: Deadline ends at 11:59pm Eastern on 12/1/2026

Career Stage: Early Career Surgeons, Medical Students, Mid-Career Surgeons, Residents/ Fellows

Program Type: Annual Meeting Program, Career Development Award

Specialty: Multi-specialty

Status: Open

Opens: May 20, 2026

Deadline: December 1, 2026

Program Overview

Provides a stipend to offset costs to attend an AATS Meeting. Funding is available to surgeons and trainees worldwide, across all career stages and geographic regions. Additional support is designated for surgeons practicing at under-resourced medical centers and those caring for heart valve disease patients in underserved communities.

Application Process

Applicants should provide the following information:

A curriculum vitae with a full description of their surgical experience.
A one-page narrative describing how this program will impact your training and help advance patient care at your institution.
- International cardiac candidates should identify the following information: An outline of your current practice with an estimate of the number of underserved VHD patients you treat annually, which includes the types of diseases currently treated, as well as an estimate of the number of VHD patients you may be able to more positively impact following attendance at the AATS Annual Meeting.

*Please note that any award payments made to foreign individuals may be subject to federal tax withholding of up to 30% if a recipient is traveling to the United States.

Review Process: The AATS Foundation’s Travel Award Committee will review all applications and recommend recipients to be presented to AATS Foundation Board of Directors for a final decision. The committee will focus on the potential impact the award may have on treating the underserved population in the applicants’ home country.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Strong research proposal with clear clinical relevance (highest predictor)

AATS asks for a 5-page proposal covering background, specific aims, significance, and research plan. Successful applications typically show:

a clearly defined research question
direct relevance to cardiac, thoracic, or congenital surgery
strong potential to improve surgical outcomes, techniques, or translational science
feasible methodology with realistic milestones

Reviewers explicitly use peer review to assess scientific merit and feasibility.

2. Strong academic trajectory / early evidence of productivity

Past recipients often already show strong academic momentum before award:

first-author publications in cardiothoracic surgery
prior presentations at AATS/STS or major surgical meetings
evidence of ongoing research productivity
clear pathway toward becoming an academic surgeon-scientist

A 2022 outcome study found AATS-funded investigators later achieved high publication output, strong citation metrics, and frequent academic promotion.

3. Institutional environment & mentor support

This appears especially important.

Applications require a letter of support from:

division chief
department chair
or laboratory director

Strong applications usually demonstrate:

protected research time
access to lab/clinical datasets
senior mentorship from established cardiothoracic investigators
institutional commitment to the applicant’s academic development

Reviewers seem to favor proposals where the institution clearly enables completion of the project.

4. Career-development alignment

AATS emphasizes that the research should fit the applicant’s long-term career goals.

A competitive application usually explains:

Why this project matters now in your career
How it helps transition to independence
What larger grant it will lead to next (NIH K/R awards, foundation funding, multicenter studies)

For mid-career programs AATS specifically asks applicants to describe how the award will lead to future funding.

5. Evidence the project can generate future external funding

One of the strongest indirect predictors.

AATS often supports projects likely to generate:

pilot data
preliminary mechanistic findings
publishable outcomes that can support later NIH or equivalent applications

Notably, ~45% of prior AATS awardees later obtained NIH funding, which suggests reviewers value projects with strong “next grant” potential.

Specialties

Cardiothoracic Surgery

Eligibility Requirements

North American Applicants (any subspecialty)
- Residents, Fellows, and Medical Students
International Applicants (any subspecialty)
- Residents, Fellows, Early Career Surgeons, and Mid-Career Surgeons
- International cardiac candidates should identify the following information:
  - If you are an international heart valve surgeon demonstrating a financial need and who treats heart valve disease patients in underserved populations.
  - Number of underserved patients s/he cares for annually.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 10304 Eaton Place Suite 100 #1035 Fairfax, VA 22030

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