Dr. Robert S. D. Higgins presented the "Life of Vivien Thomas" during Surgical Grand Rounds
The legacy of surgical pioneer Vivien Thomas, with unfiltered insight gleaned directly from his personal writings, was celebrated during the recent H. William Scott Jr. Lecture in Surgical History that was presented by Robert S.D. Higgins, MD, MSHA, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and executive vice president of Mass General Brigham.
The event kicked off the 50th anniversary celebration of the H. William Scott Jr. Society, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center organization established in 1972 to honor Scott, who served as chair of the Department of Surgery from 1952 until 1982.
Thomas, an African American man living in Nashville, worked as a Vanderbilt laboratory assistant with Alfred Blalock, MD. Blalock and Thomas began experimental work in hemorrhagic shock and pulmonary hypertension, and Thomas created and mastered complex surgical techniques. When Blalock was offered the position of chief of surgery at Johns Hopkins in 1941, he insisted that Thomas join him.
There, Thomas was charged with creating a ‘blue baby’-like condition (cyanosis) in a dog, then correcting the condition by means of a subclavian artery to pulmonary artery anastomosis. In 1944, Thomas guided Blalock through the first such procedure in a human.
Thomas’ time at Vanderbilt and his contributions to cardiac surgery have been noted in many historical accounts and retold in both the PBS documentary “Partners of the Heart” and in an HBO movie, “Something the Lord Made.”
To see the Recorded Video of Dr. Higgins' presentation click here
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
