The Early Years1957-19891991-The Present

 The Early Years

In 1915, the Atlanta Medical College aligned itself with Emory University to create the Emory University School of Medicine. Over the next 15 years, the university standardized the medical education curriculum, rationalized the training standards for physicians and built Emory University Hospital. In 1930, Dr. Daniel Elkin assumed the chairmanship of the Department of Surgery. Due to a substantial monetary gift to endow a chair in surgery given by Joseph Whitehead, Jr., the son of Coca-Cola magnate Joseph Whitehead, Sr., Dr. Elkin became the first Joseph Brown Whitehead Professor of Surgery in 1939.

Numerous Whitehead family funds helped establish the original infrastructure of the department, including research labs, the expansion of various divisions and the construction of the Whitehead Surgical Pavilion. Through his innovative contributions to the developing fields of vascular and trauma surgery, Dr. Elkin solidified the department’s position in the vanguard of surgical practice and research. He was a prolific author throughout the 30s, 40s and early 50s, and his lasting contributions include his description of pericadiocentesis for cardiac tamponade and his popularization of those surgical exposures used to access the proximal subclavian artery, the peroneal artery and the intraosseous portion of the vertebral body. Dr. Elkin also improved the surgical curriculum at Emory, most notably by elevating teaching to equal footing with clinical activities and by adding a year to the surgical residency.

After years of negotiation, The Emory Clinic was established in 1953 as a source of revenue for both faculty and the School of Medicine. In addition to quickly becoming the foremost medical center in Atlanta, the clinic received national attention for the quality of its cardiac services. Various department faculty were founding members of the clinic, including the late Dr. William McGarity, whose studies of hyperparathyroid cases contributed to a greater understanding of multiglandular parathyroid disease. Another was Dr. Charles Hatcher, who performed Georgia’s first “blue baby” open heart procedure in 1962; the state’s first single, double, and triple aortic valve replacements in 1963 and 1964; and the state's first successful coronary bypass surgery in 1970.

return to top

 1957-1989

Following Dr. Elkin’s tenure, Dr. John D. Martin served as chairman from 1957-1971. Acting on the advice of various faculty, Dr. Martin successfully integrated the separate residency programs at Grady, Emory and the Atlanta VA hospitals, streamlining and creating an even more effective curriculum. During Dr. Martin’s term, significant advances in surgical treatment were achieved by Emory faculty, including the performance of Georgia’s first successful renal transplant in 1966 by Dr. Garland Perdue. The department was chaired from 1971-1989 by Dr. W. Dean Warren, who was a leading investigator of portal hypertension for three decades and the co-originator of the distal splenorenal shunt. Leading by example, Dr. Warren instilled his commitment to academic research in both the department and the residency, and his legacy remains in the vitality and pervasiveness of the department’s research endeavors.

Significant department-based advancements during this period included:

		The development of the musculocutaneous flap procedure by Emory plastic surgeons in 1975, which became the foundation for the techniques that are now the standard for reconstructive surgery of the breast.
		The performance of Georgia's first liver transplant in 1987 by Dr. J. Michael Henderson and Dr. William Millikan.
		The performance of Georgia's first pancreas transplant in 1989 by Dr. Richard Olson and Dr. John Whelchel.

return to top

 1991-The Present

The current Joseph Brown Whitehead Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery is Dr. William Wood, who came to Emory in 1991 after having served as medical director of the cancer center and chief of surgical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Shortly after arriving at Emory, Dr. Wood recruited Dr. David Feliciano, who was appointed chief of surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in 1992, chief of vascular surgery at Grady in 2004, and currently serves as a director of the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Grace Rozycki, became chief of the division of trauma/surgical critical care at Grady in 1994. Dr. Feliciano’s extensive research in vascular and abdominal trauma and Dr. Rozycki’s development of surgeon-performed ultrasound have helped redefine how trauma surgery is practiced in this country.

Since Dr. Wood's arrival, the department has continued to be a source of evolution, refinement and innovation in surgical technique. Examples include:

		The adaptation of endoscopes for plastic surgery procedures by Dr. Felmont Eaves and Dr. Carl Price in 1993.
		Performance of Georgia's first minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery in 1996 by Dr. Joseph Craver.
		1997 performance of the world's first minimally invasive triple off-pump bypass surgery using Mini-CABG instrumentation by Dr. John Puskas.
		Performance of Georgia's first living-related liver transplant in 1997 by Dr. Thomas Heffron, whose service now offers both adult and pediatric living related liver transplants — Dr. Heffron was a member of the surgical team that developed and conducted the first pediatric living related liver transplant in the world at the University of Chicago in 1989.
		The refinement of the implantation of the endovascular stent graft in tandem with a minimally invasive procedure by the vascular group, resulting in FDA approval in 1999.
		Georgia's first islet transplant in 2003 by Dr. Christian Larsen and Dr. Thomas Pearson, whose internationally-lauded transplant immunology laboratory has garnered significant results and continues to receive multiple grants.
		The ongoing diabetes research helmed by Dr. Collin Weber, who was the first diabetes investigator to examine both cross-species islet transplantation and the protective encapsulation of transplanted islets. Dr. Weber codirects the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center for Islet Transplantation with Dr. Larsen.
		The sentinel contributions made to the development of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program by Dr. Aaron Fink.
		The outstanding investigative achievements of vascular surgery clinician/researcher Dr. Elliot Chaikof, whose present research involves the interface of engineering and medicine, with current efforts directed at the development of artificial organs and strategies for improving the clinical performance characteristics of implanted medical device.
		The highly influential role the late Dr. John Bostwick had throughout his career in the development and improvement of breast reconstruction techniques.
		The establishment in 2003 of one of the only cardiac surgery centers in the world to offer endoscopic atraumatic coronary artery bypass (Endo-ACAB) — the most minimally invasive bypass surgery presently available — by Dr. Thomas Vassiliades.

The multidisciplinary possibilities and the scope of resources to be found both within and without the department continue to provide momentum for growth. The Emory Simulation, Training, and Robotics Center (ESTAR) is developing, validating, and applying simulation-based educational tools and devices, curricula, and robotics for use in medical education, training, and patient care. Originally housed in The Emory Clinic, the recently completed free-standing Winship Cancer Institute building has reinvigorated the surgical oncology faculty’s research activities as well as their ability to provide comprehensive and ground-breaking treatment for their patients as they collaborate with their colleagues in pathology, psychiatry, radiology, and medical oncology.

Please check news for recent accomplishments and achievements.

return to top