Tristan Yan
Dr. Tristan Yan
Associate Professor Tristan D. Yan is a cardiothoracic surgeon and an Associate Professor in the Division of Surgery at the Central Clinical School, University of Sydney (USyd), Sydney, Australia. Professor Yan has a special clinical interest in aortic surgery, valvular surgery and minimally invasive thoracic surgery. His institutional responsibility is to lead academic cardiothoracic surgery. His current research expertise is on multi-institutional database, systematic review, meta-analysis, propensity score analysis and longitudinal data analysis.
Professor Yan graduated from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) with Bachelor of Science (Medicine), Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 2004. In 2006, he completed 1½-year surgical oncology research fellowship at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington D.C., where he started publishing extensively. In 2007, he was ranked first nationally among all cardiothoracic surgical trainees. He underwent cardiothoracic surgical training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and heart and lung transplantation training at the St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. He then gained further advanced cardiothoracic surgical experience in aortic surgery and minimally invasive thoracic surgery in the United Kingdom and Germany.
At the age of 32, he had also completed three higher degrees, Master of Surgery (USyd), Doctor of Medicine (UNSW) and Doctor of Philosophy (UNSW); authored or co-authored more than 150 articles and textbook chapters; obtained Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; and was appointed as Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Sydney.
Professor Yan has an h-index of 20 and approximately 1500 citations (more than 400 times in 2012 alone). Throughout his career, he has always aimed for the highest integrity towards clinical data, as he strongly advocates evidence-based medicine, rigorously pursues high-level evidence, continually publishes research articles in high-impact journals and actively promotes wide dissemination of research information in a timely, accurate and scientific manner. At least 40 of his papers have been published in journals with an impact factor above 4 and in the majority of these he is the first, or the corresponding author. During the last year his team has published 30 papers. Every year his h-index increases 3 points.
Professor Yan’s team of twenty individuals is amongst the most productive in the world of clinical research and evidence synthesis in surgery, with a specific focus on cardiothoracic surgery. He has personally trained members of his team in systematic review, meta-analysis, propensity score analysis and academic writing. He is currently co-supervising two PhD Research Fellows. Within the last five years he has successfully co-supervised more than twenty research candidates including undergraduates, postgraduates and PhD students. His students have national training numbers, funded research fellowship positions and fast career progression with some of them achieving more than 50 publications. As a result, his students have been selected for national surgical training schemes. This demonstrates that his team network has particular characteristics demonstrating coherence and efficiency in collaboration between team members. He also provides clinical teaching and mentoring to the junior surgical registrars, preparing them for the next level of their clinical responsibility.
Professor Yan is the Chairman of “Collaborative Research (CORE) Group International”, a cohesive and highly networked research organization in cardiovascular, thoracic and oncologic surgery, which is strongly supported by his hospital, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and its international collaborators. Under his leadership, CORE Group promotes clinical guidelines in conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS). CORE Group is also in the process of obtaining an international accreditation from National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a sign of high standard information development.
As a result of Professor Yan’s ongoing academic achievements, he has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief for the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery. This journal reflects his unique vision in surgical research, in that ACS will become a comprehensive video resource of cardiothoracic surgical procedures that truly embraces today’s technological and multimedia environment. The innovative format is further epitomized by its highly scientific Systematic Review and Meta-analysis and richly illustrated Art of Operative Techniques sections. The pioneering format of ACS has not been seen in any other surgical journals. Its themed issues, accompanied by video articles from leading surgeons, may become a model for future surgical journals. The uniqueness of ACS offers an unparalleled insight into cardiothoracic surgery.
Professor Yan has several other editorial commitments including Executive Editor-in-Chief (Cardiovascular Surgery) for the Journal of Thoracic Disease and CTSNet Editor for Journal and News Scan section of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network. He is an external reviewer of National Institute of Clinical Evidence (NICE) for Health Technology Assessment. He is also on the journal review board for 15 journals, including Annals of Surgery, Annals of Surgical Oncology, British Journal of Cancer, British Journal of Surgery, Cancer, Cochrane Systematic Review Protocol and Heart, amongst others.