The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) has named Justine Varieur Turco as its next Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director, effective August 31, 2026. Turco will succeed Elaine Weiss, who is retiring after seven years as CEO and more than four decades of leadership within the organization.
STS President Vinay Badhwar, MD, framed the transition as both a recognition of Weiss’s impact and a step toward a more ambitious future. Weiss’s tenure, he noted, strengthened the Society and advanced strategic initiatives designed to sustain long-term leadership in cardiothoracic surgery.
Badhwar also emphasized the Board’s confidence in Turco’s ability to build on STS’s strong foundation. Her experience is expected to support the Society’s global mission through improvements in surgical quality systems, member value, and stakeholder alignment—critical capabilities for organizations that coordinate clinical standards and large-scale performance measurement.
Turco brings more than two decades of executive leadership across medical publishing, education, and professional society management. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Scientific Publications & Guidelines at the American College of Cardiology (ACC), where she oversaw the JACC journals portfolio and ACC/AHA Clinical Practice Guidelines development. She also directed educational initiatives and strategic partnerships—an ecosystem closely tied to translating evidence into clinical practice.
Her background includes leadership at Boston Children’s Hospital and other healthcare organizations. That mix of publishing infrastructure, guideline strategy, and care delivery experience is particularly relevant in an era when specialty societies increasingly rely on measurable outcomes and evidence synthesis rather than static standards.
In comments on her appointment, Turco described healthcare as being reshaped by evolving policy, technology, and changing models of care. She highlighted STS’s role in advancing quality and data-driven improvement across cardiothoracic surgery, positioning the Society to respond to new regulatory and technological pressures.
As CEO/Executive Director, Turco will work with the STS Board, leadership, and staff to advance strategic priorities spanning surgical quality, clinical data, education, research, and advocacy. The leadership handoff signals a continued focus on rigorous evidence generation and refinement of benchmarks that can be tested at population scale.
About The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
STS is the largest not-for-profit organization in cardiothoracic surgery, representing more than 8,000 surgeons, researchers, and allied healthcare professionals worldwide. Through the STS National Database—one of medicine’s most robust clinical registries—and ongoing education, research, and advocacy, STS aims to advance high standards of patient care.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: STS Appoints Justine Varieur Turco as Next CEO/Executive Director
Keywords: Healthcare leadership, cardiothoracic surgery, clinical guidelines, medical publishing, professional societies, surgical quality, STS National Database, advocacy, JACC journals, ACC/AHA guidelines
