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Cornell UniversityMedical College1300 York AvenueNew York, New York 10021TRafalgar 9-9000 ext. 7211ANN BREENDirectorPublic InformationFor Release: Tuesday, June 13, 1967DR. C, WALTON LILLEHEI TO BE PROFESSOR AND CHAIRMAN OF SURGERYAT THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL-CORNELL MEDICAL CENTERDr. C. Walton Lillehei, the famed heart surgeon, has been named Lewis Atterbury StimsonProfessor of Surgery at Cornell University Medical College in New York City. Announcement ofthe appointment was made by Dr. John E. Deitrick, Dean of the Medical College, and Dr. E. HughLuckey, President of the Medical Center. He will also be the Chairman of the Department ofSurgery in the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and Surgeon in Chief of The New YorkHospital.Dr. Lillehei is Professor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota, where he conductedhis pioneering work in open heart surgery. His appointment at Cornell will take effect onNovember l, 1967.It was at Minnesota in 1955 that Dr. Lillehei developed a blood pump and oxygenator,still in wide use, that has been the key that made intracardiac surgery possible. The exis-tence of the heart-lung machine has made possible the common performance of open heart surgeryin the world's leading medical centers. For generations before the development of the heart-lung tnachine, open heart surgery was commonly regarded as being impossible. Dr. Lillehei,however, was performing such history making surgery in 1954 by using cross circulation, inwhich the patient shared the circulatory system of a healthy donor.Dr. Lillehei was one of the first persons to demonstrate the practical feasibility ofcorrecting congenital defects inside the heart and to perform intracardiac operations of longlength upon a non-pulsating heart. Before the advent of open heart surgery such operationswere impossible. He was also the first to apply open heart surgery, through use of the heart-lung machine to the repair of mitral and aortic valve leakages and obstructions in olderchildren or adults, usually the result of prior bouts of rheumatic fever. This led in 1958

-2-to his first successful use in man of a completely artificial heart valve replacement, nowa commonly performed operation.He and his co-workers pioneered in using an electrical stimulus applied through anelectrode sewn to the heart to maintain an adequate heart beat. This principle has beenincorporated into the device known as the pacemaker, which is now widely used in maintainingnormal heart action in people who otherwise would be incapacitated or dead because of anabnormally slow heart beat.The past several years Dr. Lillehei has been particularly interested in the developmentof new and improved methods for the surgical alleviation of the ravages of coronary arterydisease.This year Dr. Lillehei announced the development of still another aid to the treatmentof heart disease. It is a new type of compact artificial heart-lung pump with no valves orother interior moving parts. It is to be used as a booster pump and/or lung that is linkedto a patient's circulation through a major artery and vein. This device has the advantageof small size, simplicity and, in all probability, minimal adverse effects upon the blood.The device is made of a multilayer sandwich of plastic sheets and silicone rubber membrane.The ultimate aim is to implant this synthetic organ within the chest to take the place ofthe heart and/lungs that have failed.The history of heart surgery at the University of Minnesota, in which Dr. Lillehei hasplayed so prominent a role, is described in the late Leonard Engel's best-selling book,"The Operation."Dr. Lillehei is coming to a medical center well known for its work on and treatment ofcardiovascular diseases. The first open heart surgery was performed at The New York Hospitalearly in 1958 and some 600 operations have been performed since that time. The developmentof an artificial heart, under the direction of Dr. S. Frank Redo, is under way. Outstandingresearch in heart function has long been conducted by scientists at Cornell University' MedicalCollege.Dr. Lillehei will assume the positions that have been held for the past 20 years by Dr.Frank Glenn. Dr. Glenn will become an Emeritus Professor of the Medical College. He is

-3-especially well known for his contributions to surgery of the biliary tract. Dr. Glenn isalso favorably known for important contributions to other surgical areas, notably the gas-trointestinal tract, endocrine glands, pancreas, and the cardiovascular system. It was Dr.Glenn, working with Dr. George R. Holswade, who performed the first open heart operation atThe New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Glenn is also noted as a teacher, both ofmedical students and graduate physicians. He is a Past President of the American College ofSurgeons and the author of more than 500 articles in scientific journals.The new department chairman is a member of a famous medical family that has been comparedwith the Mayos, the Menningers and the Ravdins. C. Walton Lillehei, who is 48, is the eldestof three physician brothers who are at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Richard C. Lillehei,also a surgeon, has contributed extensively to work in organ transplantation, shock and methodsto support the failing heart. Dr. James Lillehei does research on pulmonary physiology.Dr. Lillehei was born in Minneapolis and went to high school there. He received hisB.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1939 and his M.D. from the Medical School in 1942.He holds an M.S. in Physiology and a Ph.D. in Surgery from the University's Graduate School.He served in World War II as commanding officer of the U.S. Army Medical Clearing Com-pany and Commanding Officer of the 33rd Field Hospital in England, North Aivica, Sicily, anethe Italian theaters. He received the Army's Bronze Star in 1944 at Anzio.Dr. Lillehei took his internship and graduate surgical training at the University ofMinnesota. In 1956 he was named a full professor in the Department of Surgery of the MedicalSchool. He is a member of numerous scientific and medical societies, and he has received anumber of important awards for his work, including the Theobold Smith Award (1951) and IdaS. Gould Award for Cardiovascular R�search (1956) both from the American ioe for theAdvancement of Science, The Lasker Award (1955), the Hektoen Gold Medal of the American Medi-cal Association (1957), and the Modern Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award (1957). Morerecently, he has been honored by the Oscar B. Hunter Memorial Award of the American Thera-peutic Society and the Gairdner Foundation International Award.Dr. Lillehei and his wife and four children live at present in St. Paul, Minnesota.