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Black and STEMbruary, Day 3
Feb. 3rd, 2025 08:40 am3. Vivien T. Thomas, LL.D.
As a young man, Dr. Thomas had hoped to go to medical school, but the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression dashed his hopes. Instead, he took a laboratory assistant job to Dr. Alfred Blalock starting in the 1930s, though he was officially classified as a janitor. Working under Blalock, he performed research on crush injuries, eventually branching into heart anomalies. Thomas, in conjunction with Blalock and pediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig, developed a groundbreaking shunt to correct Tetralogy of Fallot, although he didn't receive credit for it until many years later. Although we think of heart surgery as a given today, in the 1940s, the heart was no-go territory for surgeons, where only a daring few would tread.*
Throughout his career. Thomas trained dozens of surgeons, first at Vanderbilt, then at Johns Hopkins University. Though he did not complete any formal education beyond high school, Hopkins awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1976 for his contributions to research and education. The pediatric cardiology center at JHU is named after him, Taussig, and Blalock.
Thomas' autobiography, Partners of the Heart, is a good read, in which he discusses the evolution of his research and the surgeons he worked with.
*If you're a giant nerd like me and want to know more about the early history of heart surgery, I recommend King of Hearts by G. Wayne Miller.
As a young man, Dr. Thomas had hoped to go to medical school, but the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression dashed his hopes. Instead, he took a laboratory assistant job to Dr. Alfred Blalock starting in the 1930s, though he was officially classified as a janitor. Working under Blalock, he performed research on crush injuries, eventually branching into heart anomalies. Thomas, in conjunction with Blalock and pediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig, developed a groundbreaking shunt to correct Tetralogy of Fallot, although he didn't receive credit for it until many years later. Although we think of heart surgery as a given today, in the 1940s, the heart was no-go territory for surgeons, where only a daring few would tread.*
Throughout his career. Thomas trained dozens of surgeons, first at Vanderbilt, then at Johns Hopkins University. Though he did not complete any formal education beyond high school, Hopkins awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1976 for his contributions to research and education. The pediatric cardiology center at JHU is named after him, Taussig, and Blalock.
Thomas' autobiography, Partners of the Heart, is a good read, in which he discusses the evolution of his research and the surgeons he worked with.
*If you're a giant nerd like me and want to know more about the early history of heart surgery, I recommend King of Hearts by G. Wayne Miller.
