John Heysham Gibbon

Gibbon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 29, 1903. Descended from the Gibbon family, who first arrived in Philadelphia from Wiltshire, England in 1684, his father was a surgeon at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Hospital of Jefferson Medical College. Gibbon was the second oldest of four children and grew up attending the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. He entered Princeton University at 16 and received his AB in 1923. He went to medical school at Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia and received his MD in 1927. He completed his internship at Pennsylvania Hospital from 1927 to 1929.

He completed a research fellowship in surgery at Harvard Medical School under Edward Delos Churchill from 1930–31 and 1933–34 and became an assistant surgeon from 1931-1942 at Pennsylvania Hospital and Bryn Mawr Hospital. It was during his research fellowship at Harvard in 1931 when he first developed the idea for a heart-lung machine. A patient had developed a massive pulmonary embolism following a cholecystectomy. The team, under Dr. Churchill, performed a pulmonary embolectomy on her but she did not survive. Gibbon believed that a machine that would have taken her venous blood, oxygenated it and returned it to her arterial system would have saved her. He began work on this machine experimenting on cats at Harvard and continued this research at the University of Pennsylvania. He was successful at maintaining cardiorespiratory function of cats for nearly four hours and published these results in 1937. During World War II, he served as a surgeon in the Burma China India Theater, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and becoming chief of surgery at Mayo General Hospital. He continued his research upon his return and on May 6, 1953, he was able to perform the first successful open heart procedure, an ASD closure, on an 18-year-old patient using total cardiopulmonary bypass.[2] The patient lived for over 30 more years. For this achievement, he was awarded the Lasker Award in 1968 and the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1960, the second and third most prestigious awards in medicine, respectively.

After the war, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 before accepting the title of Professor of Surgery and Director of Surgical Research at Jefferson Medical College. In 1956, he was appointed the Samuel D Gross Professor of Surgery and Chief of Surgery of Jefferson Medical College and its hospital. He retired in 1967 and died after a game of tennis in 1973 of a heart attack. His papers are held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.[3]

He married Mary Hopkinson, daughter of painter Charles Hopkinson. His wife Mary was an assistant to his development of the heart-lung machine. They had four children: Mary, John, Alice and Marjorie. After his surgical career he retired in Lynnfield Farm in Media, PA, where he devoted himself to his hobbies - painting and poetry.[4]

• President of the American Surgical Association - 1954
• President of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons - 1960-61
• President of the Society for Vascular Surgery - 1964-65
• National Academy of Sciences - (elected, 1972)
• Chairman of Annals of Surgery - 1947-57

• Gairdner Foundation International Award - 1960
• Lasker Award in clinical research - 1968
• Dickson Prize - 1973

• List of surgeons

• Singh, Jaswinder; Dhaliwal Rajinder Singh; Luthra Suvitesh; Das Debasis; Mehta Sudhir (February 2006). "Seventy-five years after the birth of an idea: a tribute to John H Gibbon Jr". J. Am. Coll. Surg. 202 (2): 384–5. doi:10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2005.10.004. PMID 16427569.
• Edmunds, L Henry (December 2003). "Advances in the heart–lung machine after John and Mary Gibbon". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 76 (6): S2220–3. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.09.013. PMID 14667690.
• Camishion, Rudolph C (December 2003). "Remembering John H. Gibbon, Jr, MD". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 76 (6): S2199–200. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.09.011. PMID 14667685.
• Shumacker, Harris B (December 2003). "Reminiscences of John H. Gibbon, Jr, MD". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 76 (6): S2195–6. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.09.015. PMID 14667683.
• DeBakey, Michael E (December 2003). "John Gibbon and the heart–lung machine: a personal encounter and his import for cardiovascular surgery". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 76 (6): S2188–94. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.09.009. PMID 14667682.
• "Gibbon and his Heart–Lung Machine: 50 Years and Beyond. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. May 2, 2003". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 76 (6): S2185–259. December 2003. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.09.136. PMID 14667681.
• Fou, A A (1997). "John H. Gibbon. The first 20 years of the heart–lung machine". Texas Heart Institute Journal. 24 (1): 1–8. PMC 325428. PMID 9205994.
• Bing, R (August 1994). "John H. Gibbon Jr. Cardiopulmonary bypass--triumph of perseverance and character". Clinical Cardiology. 17 (8): 456–7. doi:10.1002/clc.4960170811. PMID 7955595.
• Templeton, J Y (May 1993). "Early recollections of Dr. John H. Gibbon, Jr". Journal of Cardiac Surgery. 8 (3): 396–7. doi:10.1111/j.1540-8191.1993.tb00382.x. PMID 8507969.
• Shumacker, H B (December 1984). "John H. Gibbon Jr.: the heart–lung machine and progress in cardiovascular surgery". Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 6 (4): 249–63. PMID 6393466.
• Dobell, A R; Dobell, Anthony R.C. (September 1982). "John H. Gibbon Jr. Part II. Personal reminiscences". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 34 (3): 342–4. doi:10.1016/S0003-4975(10)62508-8. PMID 7052002.
• Hill, J D; Hill, J. Donald (September 1982). "John H. Gibbon Jr. Part I. The development of the first successful heart–lung machine". Ann. Thorac. Surg. 34 (3): 337–41. doi:10.1016/S0003-4975(10)62507-6. PMID 7052001.
• Shumacker, H B (1982). "John Heysham Gibbon Jr.: September 29, 1903-February 5, 1973". Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. 53: 213–47. PMID 11620793.
• Muller, W H (November 1977). "The John H. Gibbon Jr. Lecture: the evolution and current status of surgery of the aortic valve". Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons. 62 (11): 20–31. PMID 10315789.
• Crafoord, C; Dennis C; Shumacker H B (February 1974). "John H. Gibbon Jr., as I knew him". Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 41 (3): 187–92. PMID 4593057.
• Rhoads, J E (February 1974). "Memoir of John Heysham Gibbon Jr. 1903-73". Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 41 (3): 194–7. PMID 4593058.
• "Memorial service for John Heysham Gibbon Jr., M.D". Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 41 (3): 176–82. February 1974. PMID 4593056.
• Camishion, R C (December 1973). "John H. Gibbon Jr. (1903-1973)". J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 66 (6): 982–4. PMID 4586305.
• "John H. Gibbon Jr., M.D". Review of surgery. 27 (4): 230. 1970. PMID 4918486.
• FLICK, J B (August 1957). "Memoir of John Heysham Gibbon (1871-1956)". Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 25 (2): 116–8. PMID 13468033.

• John Heysham Gibbon – Medical Doctor with a Penchant for Engineering - Today's Engineer IEEE
• John H. Gibbon Jr. – 10 Notable Jefferson Alumni of the Past – Thomas Jefferson University
• John Gibbon – National Inventors Hall of Fame
• John Heysham Gibbon – inventors.about.com
• John Heysham Gibbon Jr. – Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Science