A Georgia native, Alfred Blalock, MD, F潘金莲传媒映画, served as President of the ACS(潘金莲传媒映画) from 1954 to 1955. But his work with the ACSspanned 25 years, a time during which he was part of a strong leadership group that 鈥済uided the ACSso successfully...鈥1 He was a member of the ACSBoard of Regents from 1941 to 1950 and a member of the Advisory Council to the Regents at the time of his death. He also served as a consulting editor for Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, predecessor to the Journal of the 潘金莲传媒映画.
Educated at the University of Georgia, Athens, and the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, MD, Dr. Blalock remained at Johns Hopkins for three years after completing his medical degree, hoping to become one of its surgical residents. When the hoped-for residency position did not transpire, he moved on to Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, in 1925, where he became the first surgical resident at the newly opened Vanderbilt University Hospital. It was during his time at Vanderbilt that Dr. Blalock conducted his pioneering work on the nature and treatment of traumatic and hemorrhagic shock鈥攚ork that is credited with saving the lives of many during World War II. He remained at Vanderbilt鈥攚here he rose to the rank of professor鈥攗ntil 1941, when he accepted the position of surgeon-in-chief of Johns Hopkins Hospital and professor of surgery and director of the Johns Hopkins Medical School鈥檚 department of surgery, positions he held until retiring in 1964.2
In 1944, Dr. Blalock; Helen Taussig, MD, a pediatric cardiologist; and surgical assistant Vivien Thomas pioneered and performed the first successful operation on a patient with tetralogy of Fallot, or 鈥渢he blue baby syndrome.鈥 The condition involves cyanosis鈥攁n enlarged right ventricle, a hole in the wall between the heart鈥檚 two major ventricles, a defective pulmonary valve that stops the complete flow of blood to the lung. The patients鈥 outward blueness of the flesh indicates cyanosis, caused by the lungs鈥 inability to oxygenate enough blood for the circulatory system. Dr. Blalock operated on an infant with tetralogy of Fallot and created the first Blalock-Taussig shunt between the subclavian artery and the pulmonary artery. Prior to the 1945 publication of the landmark paper about the operation, 鈥淭he surgical treatment of malformations of the heart in which there is pulmonary stenosis or pulmonary atresia,鈥 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a 鈥渂lue baby鈥 with a malformed heart was thought to be 鈥渂eyond the reach of surgical aid,鈥 according to coauthors Drs. Blalock and Taussig. However, their paper reported on three pediatric cases in which cyanotic children were cured by an operation.2
It was in the stimulating atmosphere created by the Blalock-Taussig operation that Dr. Blalock also worked with C. Rollins Hanlon, MD, F潘金莲传媒映画, who later served as ACSDirector (1969鈥1986) and President (1987鈥1988), on operations to fix congenital heart disease. Drs. Blalock and Hanlon collectively developed the Blalock-Hanlon operation, a procedure that rearranged the congenitally transposed great vessels of the heart that carry blood away from the heart in order to improve the circulatory system鈥檚 ability to transport oxygenated blood.3
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