Vivien Theodore Thomas
(August 29, 1910– November 26, 1985)
He was an American surgical technician who developed the procedures used to treat BABY BLUE SYNDROME in the 1940s. He was the assistant to John Hopkins Chief surgeon Dr. Alfred Blalock in his experimental animal laboratory at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and later at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Vivian Thomas served as supervisor of the surgical laboratories at Johns Hopkins for 35 years. In 1976 John Hopkins awarded him an honorary doctorate and named him an instructor of surgery for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Without any education past high school, Thomas rose above poverty and racism to become a pioneer legend in cardiac surgery and a teacher of operative techniques to many of the country’s most prominent surgeons.
Dr. Vivian Thomas’ autobiographical account, corroborated by the participants in the early tetralogy operations (Denton Cooley and the late William P. Longmire, Jr., intern and resident respectively during the surgery) has led to the recent conclusion that Thomas’ contribution, both experimentally and clinically, was so critical that he should have received credit for the procedure along with Blalock and Taussig. However, because of the racial prejudices of the time, and the academic custom which generally precluded mention of non-degreed lab assistants (Thomas had no formal education beyond high school), he did not receive the honor of having the shunt named after him. The 2004 HBO television movie Something the Lord Made, based on Washingtonian writer Katie McCabe’s 1989 article of the same name, was made about his role in the historic Blue Baby surgery, as was the 2003 public television documentary Partners of the Heart.
In 1968, the surgeons Thomas trained — who had then become chiefs of surgical departments throughout America — commissioned the painting of his portrait (by Bob Gee, oil on canvas, 1969, The Johns Hopkins Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives) and arranged to have it hung next to Blalock’s in the lobby of the Alfred Blalock Clinical Sciences Building. In 1976, Johns Hopkins University presented Thomas with an honorary doctorate. Due to certain restrictions, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws, rather than a medical doctorate, but it did allow the staff and students of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to call him a doctor. After having worked there for 37 years, Thomas was also finally appointed to the faculty of the School of Medicine as an instructor of surgery. Due to his lack of an official medical degree, he was never allowed to operate on a living patient. In July 2005, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine began the practice of splitting incoming first-year students into four colleges, each named for famous Hopkins faculty members who had major impacts on the history of medicine. Thomas was chosen as one of the four, along with Helen Taussig, Florence Sabin, and Daniel Nathans.
In the summer of 1933, Thomas met Clara Beatrice Flanders. Thomas was so fond of Flanders that he married her that same year on December 22, and the newlywed couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee. The couple had two daughters. Olga Fay, the oldest, was born in 1934, and Theodosia Patricia was born 4 years later in 1938.
In 1941, Thomas and his family moved to Baltimore so that he could continue working with Blalock.
In 1971, Thomas was recognized for all his hard work “behind the scenes” with a ceremony, and the presentation of his portrait to the medical institution. Thomas spoke humbly to the full-capacity auditorium. He stated that he lived in humble satisfaction that he was able to help solve some of the world’s numerous health problems. He was overjoyed that he was finally getting recognition for his significant role in the research leading to developmental skills that many surgeons now practice.
On July 1, 1976, Thomas was appointed to the faculty as an instructor of surgery; Thomas served as the Instructor of Surgery for 3 years and retired in 1979. Following his retirement, Thomas began work on an autobiography. He died of pancreatic cancer on November 26, 1985, and the book was published just days later.
Thomas’s legacy as an educator and scientist continued with the institution of the Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Awards, given by the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesiology beginning in 1996. In 1993, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation instituted the Vivien Thomas Scholarship for Medical Science and Research sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. In the fall of 2004, the Baltimore City Public School System opened the Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy. In the halls of the school hangs a replica of Thomas’ portrait commissioned by his surgeon-trainees in 1969. The Journal of Surgical Case Reports announced in January 2010 that its annual prizes for the best case report written by a doctor and the best case report written by a medical student would be named after Thomas.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center created the Vivien A. Thomas Award for Excellence in Clinical Research, recognizing excellence in conducting clinical research.
IN BIBLIOGRAPHY BELOW:
SMALL SCREEN MOVIE TITLE:
SOMETHING THE LORD MADE.
staring Alan Rickman, as Alfred Blalock, the head of surgery at Johns Hopkins University, and Donte Smith AKA Mos Def the rap artist and actor as Vivien Thomas.
OTHER PHOTOS CREDITS :
HBO AND
THE ALAN MASON CHESNEY MEDICAL ARCHIVES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS.