Subject: Special Newsletter from the Stanford University Medical Center Alumni Association

From: Stanford University Medical Center Alumni Association <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:17:15 -0800

February 14, 2006 

Dear Alumni, 

I am sure that most of you are aware that Norman E. Shumway, MD, PhD, the father of heart transplantation and one of the pre-eminent heart surgeons of his time, died Feb. 10 at his Palo Alto home of complications from cancer. 

Dr. Shumway, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery, performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States in 1968 at Stanford. The recipient, 54-year-old steel worker Mike Kasperak, lived for 14 days.  The operation launched the burgeoning field of heart transplant surgery and stands today as a landmark in medicine.  He and his team continued to refine the procedure, paving the way for a procedure considered routine today. 

In 1981, Dr. Shumway and Bruce Reitz, MD performed the world’s first successful combined heart-lung transplant in 45-year-old advertising executive Mary Gohlke, who lived five more years and wrote a book about her experiences. By the late 1980s, they were transplanting hearts into infants as well. 

Dr. Shumway was named chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford in 1965 and in 1974, he negotiated the creation of a separate Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, which he chaired until his retirement in 1993. 

Dr. Shumway's accomplishments were not limited to the field of transplantation: He also made significant contributions to treatment of congenital heart problems in children, as well as valve problems and aneurysms in adults. 

Over the years, Dr. Shumway received dozens of honors and awards. In 1980, he was named honorary president for life by the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation. He received the Scientific Achievement Award from the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the American Surgical Association, and the American Medical Association, as well as the Trustees Medal for Distinguished Achievement from Massachusetts General Hospital. 

He is survived by his former wife, Mary Lou, of Palo Alto; four children—Sara, Lisa, Amy, and Michael; and two grandchildren. 

A special website has been created as a memorial for Dr. Shumway at http://mednews.stanford.edu/shumway/main.html

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