The procedure would involve open-heart surgery. Blalock if he could devise a procedure for her young heart patients. Helen Taussig, a pediatric cardiologist asked Dr. But as Gwendolyn Hooks writes: “Vivien refused to let the prejudice of others interfere with his work.”ĭrs. The move to Baltimore from Nashville was difficult for Vivien and his family. He accepted only if Vivien would be his research technician. The doctor was then offered the Chief of Surgery position at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He became an indispensable assistant to Dr. His official classification was “janitor.” Vivien quickly learned to conduct experiments independently. Alfred Blalock as a surgical research technician. Vivien was not told when hired that he would receive less pay than the white research technicians. Not giving up on his dream, he interviewed for a position at the Vanderbilt University Hospital. But when the stock market crashed in 1929, he lost his savings. He worked with his carpenter father saving money for college and dreamed of a career in medicine. Vivien Thomas Vivien Thomas was born in 1910 into the segregated American South. The surgical technique allowed babies born with the condition tetralogy of Fallot, or blue baby syndrome, to live. In Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas, author Gwendolyn Hooks tells the story of how Vivien Thomas developed a life-saving medical procedure.
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