Gibbon, John Heysham

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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b. 29 September 1903 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

d. 5 February 1973 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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American cardiothoracic surgeon, pioneer of the heart-lung apparatus and artificial ventilation in thoracic surgery.

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Gibbon studied medicine at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and qualified MD in 1929. He held research fellowships at Harvard from 1930 to 1936 and then moved to similar posts and an assistant professorship at the University of Pennsylvania. After a period involving service with the Army, he was appointed Professor of Surgery and Director of Surgical Research at Jefferson in 1946. His research, assisted by his wife, was particularly directed towards the construction of an artificial mechanical heart and lung apparatus which would maintain circulation and respiration during the course of chest surgery involving heart and lungs. The resulting developments have been fundamental to the expansion of cardiac and coronary surgery.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

City of Philadelphia John Scott Medal 1953. American Heart Association 1965.

Bibliography

1939, "An oxygenator with a large surface volume ratio", J. Lab. Clin. Med.

1954, "Application of a mechanical heart and lung apparatus to cardiac surgery", Minn. Med.

1962 (ed.), Surgery of the Chest.

1970, "The development of the heart-lung apparatus", Rev. Surg.

MG