SCTS Student Education Committee presents: Making Cardiothoracic Surgery Safer
The Student Education Committee invites students, trainees and anyone interested in cardiothoracic surgery to an evening on how the specialty approaches risk and safety, from risk scoring to lessons borrowed from aviation. No prior knowledge is assumed.
Tuesday 9 June 2026, 5:30pm BST
Online via Microsoft Teams
Why it matters: safety is what separates good surgical outcomes from avoidable harm. The evening looks at how cardiothoracic surgery measures risk, decides when to operate, and borrows from other high-stakes fields such as aviation, the thinking that sits behind every case. It is a chance to learn directly from the people who shaped it, including the inventor of EuroSCORE and the current President of the SCTS.
Speakers:
• Mr Aman Coonar, SCTS President, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge and Affiliated Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge: Risk minimisation versus risk avoidance in cardiothoracic surgery
• Mr Samer Nashef, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Royal Papworth Hospital and inventor of EuroSCORE: How risk scoring revolutionised cardiac surgery
• Dr Manuel Castella, Head of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Clínic and Professor, University of Barcelona: Safety lessons the operating theatre can borrow from aviation
The evening is free and open to all.