Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery
Apr 11, 2024•25 min
Episode description
Before 1952, open heart surgery was considered science fiction. The heart was off limits to surgeons despite more than half a million Americans dying annually from heart disease. Doing nothing was the strategy. However, the status quo would soon change thanks to a few brave and imaginative surgeons who dared to break the most rigid of medical taboos: Do not touch the human heart. We sat down with Dr. Gerald Imber, author of the new book “Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery” to discuss how five men raced to invent an entirely new field of surgery.
Guests:
Jessica Millar, MD- General Surgery Resident- University of Michigan; Education Fellow- Behind the Knife
Nick Teman, MD- Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery and Critical Care- University of Virginia
Gerald Imber- Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic surgery at the Weill-Cornell Medical Center, Attending Surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and Director of a private clinic in New York City, NY; Author of “Wendell Black, MD”, “Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted”, and “Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery”.
Want to hear more from Dr. Imber- be sure to check out his podcast series, Cardiac Cowboys, based on Dr. Imber’s book. You can listen to an introduction of the Cardiac Cowboys series here: https://shorturl.at/rKLM8
Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.
If you liked this episode, check out more recent episodes: https://app.behindtheknife.org/listen
Guests:
Jessica Millar, MD- General Surgery Resident- University of Michigan; Education Fellow- Behind the Knife
Nick Teman, MD- Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery and Critical Care- University of Virginia
Gerald Imber- Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic surgery at the Weill-Cornell Medical Center, Attending Surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and Director of a private clinic in New York City, NY; Author of “Wendell Black, MD”, “Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted”, and “Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery”.
Want to hear more from Dr. Imber- be sure to check out his podcast series, Cardiac Cowboys, based on Dr. Imber’s book. You can listen to an introduction of the Cardiac Cowboys series here: https://shorturl.at/rKLM8
Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.
If you liked this episode, check out more recent episodes: https://app.behindtheknife.org/listen