View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Baumgartner et al PRESIDENTIAL BIOGRAPHY Presidentialprovided by BiographyElsevier - Publisher Connector Norman E. Shumway, MD, PhD: Visionary, innovator, humorist William A. Baumgartner, MD,a Bruce A. Reitz, MD,b Vincent L. Gott, MD,a and Sara J. Shumway, MDc Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1923, Norman Edward sent back into the infantry. He then did three quarters of Shumway, Jr, and his parents (Laura Vandervliet Shumway premed at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. and Norman Edward Shumway, Sr) moved to Jackson, When it was time for Dr Shumway to matriculate to med- Michigan, when he was 1 year of age. His parents’ business ical school, all of the military slots were filled. He took an was operating ‘‘The Home Dairy,’’ which consisted of the interim job at Western State Mental Institution in Memphis, dairy in the back section and a diner up front. He went to Tennessee, where he was an orderly for 6 months. A slot be- the local grade school and was influenced early in a potential came open at Vanderbilt University in 1945, where he career in medicine when one of his classmates died of appen- started medical school. At Vanderbilt he was influenced dicitis. At Jackson High School, Dr Shumway was active on by 2 prominent surgeons of the time: Dr Barney Brooks, the debate team. His team was highly successful and won the Chief of Surgery, and Dr Cobb Pilcher, Chief of Neurosur- Michigan state championship in his senior year and then gery. placed second in a district contest. He was valedictorian of While at medical school, Dr Shumway spent a consider- his class. His yearbook picture (Figure 1) was accompanied able amount of time in the old medical library and discov- by a statement that said, ‘‘Norman Shumway, Jr—a man of ered a significant amount of surgical literature emanating few words but great meaning.’’ This statement would be from the University of Minnesota. He applied to the Univer- prophetic in Dr Shumway’s career. His individuality was sity of Minnesota and several other places. He was accepted also demonstrated at an early age when as a 10-year-old by Dr Wangensteen, the Chairman of Surgery, to begin his boy, he went topless swimming in the local pool and was residency in 1949. His training was interrupted by 2 years promptly ejected. This, of course, occurred in 1933 when in the Air Force at Lake Charles, Louisiana, and San Anto- tops of swimming suits were required for men. nio, Texas, during the Korean conflict. Dr Shumway’s love for the game of golf started in high It was at the University of Minnesota where he met Mary school. He and his friends would hitchhike to a golf course Lou Stuurmans, who was a Public Health nurse. Of note, outside of Ann Arbor where they would frequently caddy. Mary Lou was born at the University Hospital in 1930 and This familiarity with Ann Arbor prompted him to apply to at 3 years of age developed staph sepsis and empyema, the University of Michigan. He enrolled as a pre-law student requiring a thoracotomy, under the direction of Dr Owen in the fall of 1941. In that year he also joined Phi Delta Wangensteen. Norm and Mary Lou were married in June Gamma. He enlisted in the Army reserves in 1943 and of 1951, just before leaving for Lake Charles. It was in was soon sent to John Tarleton, Jr, an Agricultural College Louisiana where their first child, Sara, was born. Their in Stevensville, Texas. It was during this time that the next 2 children, Mike and Lisa, were born in Minnesota. Army gave all of the students a medical aptitude test. The After his time in the Air Force, he returned to the Univer- last question on that test stated that if you passed the test, sity of Minnesota to complete his residency program. Of the would you be more interested in medicine or dentistry? Dr 5 residency years, 1 year was spent in the Department of 1 Shumway said that, ‘‘Because he knew a little bit about Physiology, 1 /2 years were spent in the surgical laborato- 1 the infantry, he was pretty sure they were going to need ries, and 2 /2 years were spent in clinical surgery. The clin- more doctors than dentists, so he marked medicine.’’ This ical program was divided into 3 services: Green service, Dr turned out to be prophetic in that the dental part of the pro- Lillehei and Dr Lewis; Purple service, Dr Wangensteen; and gram was eventually closed, and all those individuals were Orange service, Dr Varco. The inability to perform an oper- ation because of the large number of residents in surgery prompted Dr Shumway to say, ‘‘The hardest thing about From the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md;a cardiac surgery was getting a chance to do it.’’ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Just before Dr Shumway left for his duty in the Air Force, Stanford, Calif;b Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Minnesota, Dr Lillehei underwent a radical neck and mediastinal dissec- Minneapolis, Minn.c Publication of this article is supported by a grant from the Medtronic Corporation. tion for a lymphosarcoma and received a unit of blood from Received for publication Nov 4, 2008; accepted for publication Nov 6, 2008. Dr Shumway. Dr Shumway would later quip that whatever Address for reprints: William A. Baumgartner, MD, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 Walt accomplished was due to his unit of blood. N. Wolfe St, Blalock 618, Baltimore, MD 21287 (E-mail: [email protected]. jhu.edu). Dr Shumway’s mentors included Drs F. John Lewis, Publication of this article is sponsored by Medtronic. Maurice Visscher, and Jack Johnson. Dr Lewis was the first J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2009;137:269-77 physician to perform an open operation with closure of an 0022-5223/$36.00 Copyright Ó 2009 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery atrial septal defect under hypothermic inflow occlusion. doi:10.1016/j.jtcvs.2008.11.008 Drs Visscher and Johnson were physiologists who interacted The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery c Volume 137, Number 2 269 Presidential Biography Baumgartner et al FIGURE 1. Yearbook picture. with Dr Shumway during his 2 years in the laboratory, where he completed his PhD thesis in the area of hypothermia. FIGURE 2. Drs Lillehei, Lewis, and Wangensteen. Wayne Miller authored a book about Dr Walton Lillehei entitled, King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick ademic medical center. Dr Wangensteen offered Dr Shum- Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery. In the chapter devoted way a position at Ancker Hospital (now called Regions to the University of Minnesota residents, Miller starts the Hospital) in Minnesota. This did not appeal to Dr Shumway, section by saying, ‘‘Of all the young surgeons who passed and he chose to move west. through Minnesota in the 1950s, Norman Shumway was Despite these differences, however, Dr Shumway had the most irreverent, which was saying a lot.’’ Miller con- fond feelings for Drs Wangensteen, Lewis, and Lillehei tinues on to say, ‘‘When a particularly arrogant surgeon (Figure 2). In regard to Dr Wangensteen, Dr Shumway bragged that he was the only Chief Resident whom Owen said ‘‘He was a marvelous individual. He referred to himself Wangensteen had ever personally assisted on a certain as the regimental water carrier. His job was to be sure that the type of operation, Dr Shumway said, George, there is no troops had enough support. It was a remarkable attitude, par- chief resident who needed help more than you.’’ ticularly for those days.’’ Dr Shumway wrote an essay at the Another particularly amusing story involved Dr Owen time of Dr Lillehei’s 80th birthday. The abstract states, Wangensteen. He liked to start daily rounds in his laboratory ‘‘This paper is a brief biography of two of the most impor- and then continue them on the ward. Dr Shumway at this tant contributors to the development of open heart surgery. particular time was an intern on Dr Wangensteen’s service. In 1952, John Lewis performed the first successful open Dr Lillehei was Chief Resident, and when Dr Wangensteen heart surgical procedure of any kind, repairing an atrial sep- was out of town for a few days, a female patient thought that tal defect under general hypothermia in a 5-year-old girl. Dr Lillehei was Dr Wangensteen. When Dr Wangensteen re- In March of 1954, Walt Lillehei, using cross circulation, turned and the team was making rounds, Dr Wangensteen embarked on a series of 45 consecutive patients, repairing reintroduced himself, and the lady said, ‘‘You’re not Dr many congenital heart defects for the first time. The bubble Wangensteen, that’s Dr Wangensteen over there,’’ pointing oxygenator appeared in 1955, and open heart surgery was in- to Walt Lillehei. Dr Wangensteen was visibly annoyed that troduced to many of this nation’s major medical centers.’’ the woman did not recognize him, and when he turned to He goes on to say, ‘‘I wish I knew them so well. I could leave, Shumway, the intern, put his arm around him and call them C and F, but actually to me they were always C. said, ‘‘You know you’ve got to stop going around this hos- Walton Lillehei and F. John Lewis. They were the most pital and telling patients that you’re Dr Wangensteen!’’ spectacular and productive surgeons to come out of the As one might expect, this type of interchange did not University of Minnesota in the 1950s.