The University of Louisville’s Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery has been accepted for satellite membership in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, a group of prestigious academic medical centers across the nation whose primary goal is conduct multiple, collaborative, proof-of-concept clinical protocols to evaluate surgical strategies to improve the treatment of cardiovascular disease in adult populations. Satellite membership means that UofL will have access to many of the cutting-edge cardiac clinical trials being offered to patients at member institutions. This could mean more treatment options for patients.

Members of the network include the Cleveland Clinic, Columbia University, Duke University, Emory University, Montefiore Medical Center, Montreal Heart Institute, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia. The network is administered by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health that is charged with providing global leadership for a research, training, and education program to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and enhance the health of all individuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.