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F. John Lewis

Floyd John Lewis (1916 – September 20, 1993) was an American surgeon who performed the first successful open heart operation, closing an atrial septal defect in a 5-year-old girl, on 2 September 1952.[1] For the next 3 years, Lewis and colleagues operated on 60 patients with atrial septal defects using hypothermia and inflow occlusion.[2] He was best friends with C. Walton Lillehei and they worked together at the University of Minnesota.[3]

F. John Lewis

Floyd John Lewis

1916 (1916)

September 20, 1993(1993-09-20) (aged 76–77)

American

In 1956, Lewis moved on from Minnesota to Northwestern University where he became the first full-time member of the faculty of surgery. At Northwestern, Lewis continued investigating the use of hypothermia in the operating room. Lewis later trained Thomas Starzl, who was completing a fellowship in cardiovascular surgery at Northwestern, and helped him to win a Markle Scholarship.[4]


After being passed up for the Chair of Surgery position, Lewis departed for Santa Barbara in 1976 where he engaged in new careers: writing, hiking and mountain-climbing essays, and publishing a pamphlet entitled Bicycling Santa Barbara. He died on 20 September 1993 in Santa Barbara of sepsis.[5]