ThORNWe’re excited to welcome you to the inaugural ThORN Annual Meeting in Chicago! It will be a great opportunity to collaborate, connect, and come up with new and innovative ideas in thoracic surgery outcomes research. We encourage you to attend and invite any trainees or colleagues who may be interested.
Program Agenda
Registration
Registration for the conference and ThORN membership
Opening Session & Keynote
Opening Remarks
Jeff Yang
Building the Future of Thoracic Surgery Health Services Research: Career Pathways and Collaborative Opportunities
Dr. Tom Varghese
Q&A
Current Work
ThoRN Multicenter Registry Database
Alex Zhu & Bryan Rettner
How to Develop an Expert Consensus Document
Clint Morgan
ThoRN Hacking Session: Selection of Expert Consensus Topics for 2026
Break
Refreshments and Networking
Future Directions
Two-Minute Pitches: Multicenter Retrospective Studies
Moderators: Jeff Yang, Biniam Kidane
Brooks Udelsman, Biniam Kidane, Jeff Yang, Darren Bryan, Vaibhav Gupta, Uma Sachdeva, Sora Ely
ThoRN Hacking Session
Moderator: Sora Ely
Breakout groups to develop project ideas
Summary of Discussion and Closing
Dinner
Location TBD
Event Details
Date
May 1, 2026
Meeting Time
3:00 – 5:45 PM (CDT)
Location
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Registration
Free
Dinner
Location TBD
Dr. Thomas K. Varghese Jr.
MD, MS, MBA, FACS, MAMSE
Building the Future of Thoracic Surgery Health Services Research: Career Pathways and Collaborative Opportunities
Learning Objectives:
- Summarize the evolution of thoracic surgery health services research (HSR) and its role in improving care delivery.
- Recognize key domains and collaborative models that define contemporary thoracic surgery HSR.
- Outline a practical approach to building a career in thoracic surgery HSR.
Dr. Thomas Varghese Jr. is the Chief, Section of General Thoracic Surgery at the University of Utah; Chief Value Officer (Ambulatory and Inpatient) at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI); Associate Chief Medical Quality Officer at Huntsman Cancer Hospital; and a Professor (Tenure-track) in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Tom is a health services researcher whose clinical, research and operational experience are focused on the optimization of patient health before surgery, surgeon performance, and health system outcomes. He helped create the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Strong for Surgery program and is a co-PI on the National Cancer Institute RO1-funded clinical trial on the role of Precision Exercise Prescription (PEP) for elective lung cancer surgical resection.
Dr. Varghese has served in several leadership positions in organizations such as the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, NCCN, Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, and Society of University Surgeons. He is a founding member, and inaugural President of the Thoracic Surgery Outcomes Research Network (ThORN), a collaborative that now spans 29 institutions nationwide.
He is a past President of SUS (presidential term 2024-2025), and is the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS). Dr. Varghese is a leader with a robust track record of Allyship, Mentorship and Sponsorship for medical students, residents, and junior faculty for nearly two decades. He was inducted as a Member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2023 and received the 2025 Association of Women Surgeons Past Presidents’ Honorary Member Award.
In his free time, Tom enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, and engaging on social media.