American association for thoracic surgery

In 1913 Dr. Willy Meyer, director of surgery at the German Hospital in New York, presented a paper on "Extrathoracic and Intrathoracic Esophagoplasty . . ." at the American Medical Association Annual Meeting. Disappointed by the lack of interest in his topic, Meyer decided to create a venue devoted to exchanging ideas regarding the growing field of thoracic surgery. He began by inviting nineteen local colleagues to his home on February 20, 1917, and founding the New York Society for Thoracic Surgery. This was to be a society "for" thoracic surgery rather than "of" thoracic surgeons to encourage anyone with an interest in the field to participate. The original group of twenty men elected Meyer as permanent chairman and agreed to work toward forming a national organization.

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) was formed at the American Medical Association Annual Meeting on June 7, 1917. It consisted of fifty founding members, including Meyer, Alexis Carrel, Armistead C. Crump, Nathan W. Green, Howard Lilienthal, Rudolph Matas, and Samuel Robinson. The first annual meeting of the AATS was held on June 10, 1918; the first constitution was adopted the following year. Meeting attendance grew slowly but steadily over the association's first two decades before expanding rapidly after WWII. Fifty years after its founding, AATS membership had grown to 685 and the annual meeting had expanded significantly.

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