From The President's Desk
Reflections from the SCTS Annual Meeting Belfast 2026
23 March 2026
(Last updated: 23 Mar 2026 12:18)
Aman Coonar SCTS president with Professor Sir Bruce Keogh past SCTS president and 2026 Life Time Achievement Award recipient.
Last week, the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Meeting again demonstrated the depth, breadth, and energy of our specialty.
The opening day focused on the University Programme, spanning all four clinical domains of cardiothoracic surgery. It was particularly encouraging to see strong engagement from consultant, medical students, doctors in training, and our non-medical colleagues, alongside productive meetings of our committees and working groups. This breadth of participation reflects a confident, engaged, and forward-looking professional community.
The scientific sessions that followed maintained a consistently high standard. A particular highlight was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, a past president of SCTS whose contributions to cardiothoracic surgery and national healthcare leadership are exceptional. The citation was delivered by another past president Simon Kendall with warmth and authority befitting the occasion.
The Gala Dinner provided a fitting and happy opportunity to recognise excellence across our membership and celebrate achievements that continue to shape and strengthen our specialty.
Across Monday and Tuesday, the academic programme reflected both scientific rigour, debate, and the evolving direction of cardiothoracic surgery. Our specialty remains vibrant, innovative, and ambitious.
It was a privilege to have some of our past presidents present whose support means a lot to our community and to myself and Enoch Akowuah our President Elect. That sense of continuity, experience, and shared purpose is a strength of our society we will take steps to embed that.
Equally striking was the diversity of our community. At a time when the wider world is marked by conflict and division, it was a sound reminder of how well we work together across backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences when united by a common purpose.
It was particularly encouraging to see the progress being made by groups who have not always had the same leadership opportunities. This broadening of participation strengthens us as a Society. New perspectives, experiences, and ideas are finding a platform, and with that, the opportunity for talent to flourish. That is what our patients and people deserve.
Strengthening the Society
A central theme over the past year has been the professionalising the running of the Society. This includes transitioning to the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer, leading our administrative team, guided by the Senior Leadership Team and responsible to the President. This is an important step in improving continuity and ensuring that our organisational structure matches our ambition.
I would like to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of Sunil Bhudia as Meeting Secretary, and warmly welcome Carol Tan into the role. The commitment required spans six years, progressing through two deputy roles before leading the meeting itself, and represents a significant contribution to the Society.
We now look ahead to our fundraising London to Brighton bike ride on the 13th September 2026 and to our next annual meeting in Birmingham in March 2027.
We will also continue to develop our presidential leadership team proposal, strengthening continuity, support, and effectiveness across the term of office. It was particularly valuable to discuss this approach with the President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery who spoke at our meeting, where a similar model is in place to support sustained leadership and delivery.
Clinical Priorities and Progress
The annual meeting highlighted progress on clinical transformation and proactively addressing the challenges the specialty faces.
Strengthening our clinical committees and their work remains a priority.
Thoracic surgery continues its strong trajectory, expanding access, embedding enhanced recovery, and advancing minimally invasive approaches wherever appropriate. This is underpinned by a collaborative culture increasingly embedded in this sub-specialty.
Cardiac surgery requires has new momentum. Our Cardiac Transformation Programme is progressing, with five Vanguard units preparing for industry-supported training, to be followed by a second wave. By aligning training, commissioning, demonstrable patient benefit with a culture of enhanced recovery we aim to support widespread adoption across the UK.
Over the coming year, we aim that all initial Vanguard units complete their training phase and begin delivering transformed pathways, with early outcome and experience data shared transparently across the Society. This will provide a foundation for wider national adoption.
Congenital surgery, under new leadership is progressing important work to define standards for units.
Transplant and mechanical circulatory support services have been re-energised, with strong engagement and growing enthusiasm to develop these services further.
- Values
- Technology
- Culture
Across all this work, a consistent principle is emerging. It is the combination of clear values and purposeful technological innovation that shapes the right culture. Neither alone is sufficient. Together, they define how we deliver care, how we train, and how we lead.
Engagement and Listening
During the meeting, I tried to attend sessions across all major committees and working groups, and to visit all the exhibitors (apologies if we did not meet). These conversations are invaluable, providing honest insight into where we are succeeding and where we must continue to improve.
Most importantly, it was a pleasure to meet such a wide cross-section of our membership. The strength of this Society lies in its people, ideas, and energy.
A Personal Reflection
This month’s FTPD comes at the end of an exceptionally full week. Alongside the Annual Meeting in Belfast, we hosted a live surgery demonstration and cadaveric training course in Cambridge. This focused on subxiphoid and uniportal minimally invasive techniques, reflecting the direction of travel within our specialty.
After such intensity, I was reminded of the importance of recovery. A quiet weekend walking with my wife along the Norfolk coast, enjoying the sea air, sunshine and wildlife provided a space to reflect, reset, and regain perspective.
Sustained progress in our specialty will come not from isolated breakthroughs alone, but from continual, incremental improvements applied consistently across practice, training, systems, and culture.
Closing Reflections
I am extremely grateful to all speakers and contributors, particularly those who travelled internationally to support the plenary sessions. Their contributions elevated the meeting and reinforced the global standing of our Society.
For those who wish to revisit the highlights, the conference newspaper remains available and captures many of the key moments and contributions from the meeting.
Belfast has again set a high benchmark. Our collective responsibility now is to build on this momentum and translate it into measurable progress across our services.
I would also encourage members, colleagues, patients, and partners to join us for the SCTS London to Brighton Cycle Ride on Sunday 13 September 2026. Last year showed what is possible when our community comes together beyond the clinical environment, and this year we aim to go further. Register here for the SCTS London to Brighton cycle ride or through www.scts.org
Help SCTS to make heart, chest, and lung surgery better - through sustained, incremental progress in practice, training, and culture.
Aman Coonar
SCTS President
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