About Aats Foundation
Since 1973, the AATS Foundation has supported cardiothoracic surgeons in research and education. Individual contributions support Foundation initiatives, scholarships, research, and training to advance the future of cardiothoracic surgery.
Focus Areas
Cardiothoracic surgerySurgical researchMedical education and trainingScholarships and fellowshipsGlobal surgical capacity building
Who They Fund
surgical investigators (early-career researchers)mid-career physician-scientists / investigatorssurgical residents and clinical fellowscardiothoracic and cardiac surgeonsacademic medical centers / hospitals (e.g., Cleveland Clinic)
Funding Style
About Aats Foundation
Since 1973, Aats Foundation has backed cardiothoracic surgery through research, education, scholarships, and training rather than direct individual giving. Its active fellowship and award programs point to a funder built around surgeon development, with named support for congenital heart surgery, thoracic surgery, arrhythmia surgery, valve disease education, and robotics training. Recent grants show that structure in practice: $100,000 to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for the Surgical Investigator Program and $100,000 to Children’s Hospital Corporation for the same program. The foundation also funds mid-career and early-career work, including $50,000 awards to Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University under the Surgical Investigator Program. The grantee mix includes major medical centers and university medical schools, which fits its emphasis on surgeon-scientists, trainees, and academic training environments. Program language also includes capacity building in developed and developing countries, indicating that its mission extends beyond a single clinical niche to the broader training pipeline for cardiothoracic surgery.
What Aats Foundation Funds
Aats Foundation’s clearest theme is surgeon-scientist development. In 2025, it gave $80,000 to Stanford University for research scholarships, and in 2024 it gave $50,000 to Massachusetts General Hospital - Research under the WTS Mid-Career Investigator Award. Those awards sit alongside repeated Surgical Investigator Program grants to academic medical centers. The foundation also supports hospital-based research and training. It provided $140,000 to Mass General Hospital for research support, $50,000 to Children’s Hospital Corporation for research support, and $40,000 to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for research support. A third thread is specialty training in cardiothoracic subspecialties. Its active programs include fellowships in congenital heart surgery, thoracic surgery, arrhythmia surgery, valve disease education, and robotics. The grant list reflects that pattern through awards such as the Hom - David J. Sugarbaker Fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
How Aats Foundation Gives
Aats Foundation’s grants cluster around a median of $50,000, with a lower quartile of $10,000 and an upper quartile also at $50,000, which shows a compact award structure centered on standard program amounts. The 2025 filing reports $2,215,287 in annual grants against $13,028,010 in assets. The recent grant list also shows repeated support to some of the same institutions across multiple years, including Johns Hopkins University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Children’s Hospital Corporation, and Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. The foundation is not an individual-grant maker, and its active programs are listed as fellowship, scholarship, and award programs rather than open application pools. Accepts unsolicited applications: false.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$2.2M
Total Assets
$13M
Total Revenue
$2.8M
Total Expenses
$3M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $10K and $50K, with a median of $50K.
25th Percentile
$10K
Median
$50K
75th Percentile
$50K
Geographic Reach
Regional12 states funded
About 17% of grants go to recipients in PA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
DAVID H ADAMS MD
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