Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society
A Section of the the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia

The Society of Thoracic Surgery and Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (STS-CCAS) Database is a joint effort between the STS and the CCAS to create a resource for local quality improvement, national benchmarking, and research in congenital cardiac anesthesia. Starting in 2010, it has grown into a large resource with over 100,000 cases containing anesthesia data.

We are calling for a Vice-chair for this STS-CCAS Committee from 2025-2027. The expectation is that this is a 2-year position, after which the Vice- chair will become the Chair for 2 years and then the Past-chair for 2 years. As the Vice-chair, the individual will be responsible for attending monthly online meetings with the STS congenital database group. In addition, there will be a gradual transition of roles and responsibilities given the large and complex nature of this database. It will also be expected that the Vice-chair will join the STS as an associate physician member. Please see the STS website for further details.

If you are interested in this position, please send your recent CV. In addition, a letter of interest is necessary. Please email your CV and letter of interest to Jenny Patterson at [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is March 10, 2025. Any prior involvement in the STS database at the local level and past or current participation with the CCAS STS database committee should be highlighted.

Morgan Brown
Chair, STS Database Committee, Past Chair, 2025-2027

Justin Long
Vice-Chair, STS Database Committee, Chair, 2025-2027

The CCAS Quality and Safety Committee is comprised of congenital cardiac anesthesiologists from multiple institutions who meet quarterly to work on projects and discuss topics related to quality improvement and safety. Since the inception of this committee in 2021, we have undertaken projects to develop checklists for emergencies in congenital cardiac anesthesia, propose specific quality metrics, review intraoperative cardiac arrests using STS data and analyze best practices for arterial line placement.

Our ideal candidates are passionate about quality improvement, patient safety issues, and are excited to contribute to the CCAS. Committee members serve a 2-year term.

For current members of the committee who wish to rejoin for an additional 2-year term, you will need to reapply. There will be 3-5 reappointments for prior members. We ask that you submit a paragraph describing why you would like to continue and what you see the committee working on in the next 2 years.

For non-members of the committee who are interested in joining, we ask for a paragraph describing why you would like to be on the committee and a copy of your most recent CV. There will be 3-5 open positions starting in March 2025.   If you are not selected, our quarterly meetings are open for everyone to participate. However, projects will be generally restricted to committee members.

All nominations should be received by March 7, 2025. 

Please email the requested documents to [email protected].

Thank you all for your contributions to the CCAS Quality and Safety Committee. The future is bright for this committee! We look forward to future collaboration and projects that enhance the quality and safety of our practices.

Lisa Caplan, MD 2025-2027 Chair

Stephen Gleich, MD Past-chair (2023-2025)

In March of 2020, the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) Board of Directors created the CCAS Research Committee to address the research needs of our specialty. The Research Committee is a closed committee tasked with promoting and encouraging research related to the practice of pediatric cardiac anesthesia; promoting multi-center research with the potential to modify present care paradigms and/or improve outcomes; reviewing studies to be placed on the CCAS website or other CCAS-related materials; approving surveys submitted to CCAS for distribution to the membership; advising and participating in the planning of the CCAS Annual Meeting on topics of research and quality improvement science; evaluating submissions for the CCAS Dolly D. Hansen Research Award and abstracts for the annual meeting; and other matters of interest to research in our specialty.

We are now looking for 3 new members interested in joining the research committee. If you are interested in joining our committee or want to nominate a colleague with an interest in congenital cardiac anesthesia research, please send your nomination and the following information to [email protected] before Friday, February 28, 2025.

• First and Last name of the candidate
• Institution
• Area of research interest
• Short paragraph explaining candidates interest in the committee
• Candidate CV

Applications will be reviewed, and the 3 new candidates will be approved by the CCAS Board of Directors. Preference will be given to those with a strong research background in pediatric cardiac anesthesia.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Laura Downey, MD
Chair of the CCAS Research Committee
[email protected]

Dear CCAS Members,

The CCAS Communications Committee is seeking self-nominations for;

1) Committee Chair
2) Editor of the Newsletter
3) Associate Editor of the Newsletter
4) Question of the Week Editors (2)
5) Question of the Week Authors (4)
6) Social Media Editor
7) Website Editor
8) ChiP Network Article Review Editor
9) Echo tutorial Editor for the upcoming 2-year term starting at the 2025 CCAS Annual Meeting

The Communications Committee is a recognized committee within the CCAS. The committee produces the biannual newsletter, including ChiP Network article reviews, creates and gathers the educational content for the CCAS website, writes the Questions of the Week and Polls of the Month, and maintains the social media of the Society.

The role of the Chair is to oversee and assist the Editor and Associate Editor of the Newsletter and the ChiP network Editor with the compilation of the biannual newsletter, in addition to supervising each of the Editors (Website, Social Media, Echo tutorial, and Question of the Week Editors). The Question of the Week Editors revise and edit the Question of the Week, while Question Authors research and write the Questions of the Week and Polls of the Month. The Website Editor creates, gathers, and updates resources and educational content for the official CCAS website. The Social Media Editor maintains the social media (X, Instagram, Facebook) and WhatsApp accounts for the society. The ChiP Network Editor works directly with the ChiP Network to select articles and reviewers for articles related to anesthetic care or critical care of congenital cardiac disease to be published in the newsletter. The Echo tutorial Editor oversees submissions meant to highlight basic aspects of the echocardiographic assessment of selected cardiovascular pathology pertinent to congenital heart disease.

Candidates should submit a personal statement to [email protected] that discusses (1) the position that the candidate wishes to self-nominate for, including the following: 1) why you are interested and any prior experience relevant to the position applied for and (2) prior involvement with CCAS and/or SPA.  You may apply for more than one position and rank the order in which you place the highest to the least preference. The deadline for submission is December 18, 2024.  Candidates will be chosen by the current committee leaders and will be approved by the CCAS Board of Directors. The candidates will be notified in January and announced in the upcoming 2025 Winter Newsletter. Thank you for your interest in supporting the educational mission of the CCAS. Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding the positions available for self-nomination.

Anne Elisa Cossu, MD, MS, FASA
Chair, Communications Committee and Editor of the Newsletter

Jeremy Deer, MD
Associate Editor of the Newsletter

Sana Ullah, MB ChB FRCA
Questions of the Week Editor

Inquiring Minds Mending Tiny Hearts

The CCAS Research Committee is proud to launch our monthly Podcast “Inquiring Minds Mending Tiny Hearts”.  Over the course of this podcast, the research committee will invite experts to discuss pearls and pitfalls of research in the field of congenital cardiac disease.  We will address a wide range of topics from “How to write a research abstract for a conference” to “How to turn your idea into a research project” to “How can I use a national database to answer my research question?”  We hope that this Podcast will provide a valuable resource for trainees and faculty alike.