Wilfred gordon bigelow biography
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The founding father of cardiovascular surgery
A world-renowned surgeon and an imaginative scientist
Dr. Wilfred Gordon Bigelow's key discovery was recognizing how to lower the body's oxygen requirements while lowering the body's core temperature to a point at which safe open heart surgery was possible. Soon after, Bigelow made history again. During an experimental surgery, Drs. Bigelow and John C. Callaghan ran into an unexpected situation; the dog’s heart suddenly stopped beating. The heart was normal in all respects, and in desperation, Dr. Bigelow “gave it a good poke”. The heart contracted, and with repeated pokes simulated regular heart beats, they obtained a blood pressure reading. Electrical impulses given to the sinoatrial node had the same result – they had just found the makings of an artificial cardiac pacemaker.
Key Facts
Made important contributions to heart surgery with the use of hypothermia to slow tissue metabolism, prote
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Dr. Wilfred G. Bigelow Biographical Sketch
Dr. Wilfred Gordon Bigelow was born June 18, 1913 in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of Grace Ann Carnegie Gordon Bigelow and Dr. Wilfred Abram Bigelow. Dr. W.A. Bigelow (1879-1966) was a general practitioner and surgeon, a charter member of the American College of Surgeons (1913), and the founder of the first private medical clinic in Canada, in Brandon, 1913.
Dr. W.G. Bigelow was educated at Brandon collegiate, Brentwood College in Victoria, B.C., Brandon College (1931), and the University of Toronto (B.A. 1935, M.D. 1938, M.S. 1938). His post-graduate medical/surgical training included surgical residencies under Dr. W.E. Gallie at the Toronto General Hospital (TGH), 1938-1941, and a Research Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, 1946-47, where he trained in vascular and cardiac surgery under Dr. Richard Bing and Dr. Alfred Blalock, the founder of modern cardiac surgery.
In July 1941, Dr. Bigelow married Margaret Ruth Jenning
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Wilfred Gordon 9 BIGELOW
1592C.1653 Wilfred Gordon 9 MD, BIGELOW, son of Wilfred Abram 8 ( Abraham 7 ( Ebenezer 6 , Amasa 5 , Isaac 4, Isaac 3, Samuel 2, John1) and Grace Ann (GORDON) BIGELOW, was born 18 June 1913. He married Ruth Jennings on 09 July 1941. He was a surgeon who invented the technique of hypothermia for open-heart surgery, and performed the world's first such procedure on a dog at the Banting Institute in 1949, was also a co-inventor of the pacemaker. He is considered father of Cardiovascular surgery in Canada and received the Order of Canada in 1981. He was inducted into the Medical Hall of Fame. Last residence, Brandon, ONT. Dr. Bigelow died 27 March 2005 in Toronto at the age of 91. (see below)
4 Children of Wilfred and Ruth (Jennings) Bigelow:
1592C.16531 John, b _____ ; d _____ ;
1592C.16532 Dan, b _____ ; d ____