Thomas, Vivien, 1910-1985

Vivien Theodore Thomas (August 29, 1910[1] – November 26, 1985)[2] was an American laboratory supervisor who developed a procedure used to treat blue baby syndrome (now known as cyanotic heart disease) in the 1940s.[3] He was the assistant to surgeon Alfred Blalock in Blalock's experimental animal laboratory at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and later at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Thomas was unique in that he did not have any professional education or experience in a research laboratory; however, he served as supervisor of the surgical laboratories at Johns Hopkins for 35 years. In 1976, Hopkins awarded him an honorary doctorate and named him an instructor of surgery for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.[3] Without any education past high school, Thomas rose above poverty and racism to become a cardiac surgery pioneer and a teacher of operative techniques to many of the country's most prominent surgeons.

A PBS documentary, Partners of the Heart,[4] was broadcast in 2003 on PBS's American Experience. In the 2004 HBO movie Something the Lord Made, based on Katie McCabe's National Magazine Award–winning Washingtonian article of the same title, Vivien Thomas was portrayed by Mos Def.

Thomas was born in small-town Louisiana during the Jim Crow era, but sources disagree in which small town. Most sources say he was born to Willard Maceo Thomas and the former Mary Alice Eaton in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1910.[5][6][7][8][9] He listed New Iberia as his birthplace on his World War II draft card, and when he died in 1985, his obituary in The Baltimore Sun also listed New Iberia.[10][11] But in his autobiography, published shortly after his death, Thomas writes that he was born in Lake Providence, Louisiana.[12] New Iberia was his mother's hometown, Lake Providence his father's. Either way, the family did not stay in Louisiana for long, moving to Nashville, Tennessee when Thomas was about two years old.

Thomas attended Pearl High School in Nashville in the 1920s, and graduated in 1929.[13] Thomas' father was a carpenter, and took pleasure in passing down his expertise to his sons. Thomas worked with his father and brothers every day after school and on Saturdays, doing jobs such as measuring, sawing, and nailing.[14] This experience proved beneficial to Thomas, as he was able to secure a carpentry job at Fisk University repairing facility damages after graduating from high school.[14] Thomas had hoped to attend college and become a doctor, but the Great Depression derailed his plans.[15] Thomas intended to work hard, save money, and gain a higher education as soon as he could afford it. Determined to broaden his skill set, in 1930 he reached out to childhood friend Charles Manlove (who was working at Vanderbilt University at the time) to ask if there were any jobs available.[16]

Career
In the wake of the stock market crash in October 1929, Thomas put his educational plans on hold and, through a friend, in February 1930 secured a job as surgical research assistant with Dr. Alfred Blalock at Vanderbilt University.[17] On his first day of work, Thomas assisted Blalock with a surgical experiment on a dog.[18] At the end of Thomas's first day, Blalock told Thomas they would do another experiment the next morning. Blalock told Thomas to "come in and put the animal to sleep and get it set up." Within a few weeks, Thomas was starting surgery on his own.[19] Thomas was classified and paid as a janitor,[20] despite the fact that by the mid-1930s, he was doing the work of a postdoctoral researcher in the lab.

Thomas struggled with finances despite saving most of what he earned. The salaries that he received did not provide enough comfort to quit his laboratory research job and go back to school. Nashville's banks failed nine months after Thomas started his job with Blalock, and his savings were wiped out.[17] He abandoned his plans for college and medical school, relieved to have even a low-paying job as the Great Depression deepened. Vivien Thomas continued his work with Dr. Blalock, and saving his earnings, so that he could provide for his daughters and wife the best he could.[21]

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)[52] 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.[3] 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 doctor. After having worked there for 37 years, Thomas was also finally appointed to the faculty of the School of Medicine as Instructor of Surgery. Due to his lack of an official medical degree, he was never allowed to operate on a living patient.[3]

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.

Personal life and death
In the summer of 1933, Vivien Thomas met Clara Beatrice Flanders. Thomas was so fond of Miss Flanders that he married her that same year on December 22, and the newly wed couple moved to Nashville, TN.[21] The couple had two daughters. Olga Fay, the oldest, was born in 1934, and Theodasia Patricia was born 4 years later in 1938.[21]

In 1941, Thomas and his family moved from Nashville, TN to Baltimore so that he could continue working with Blalock.

In 1971, Thomas was finally recognized for all his hard work "behind the scenes" with a ceremony, and the presentation of his portrait to the medical institution.[53] 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, Dr. 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.[53] Following his retirement, Thomas began work on an autobiography.[54] He died of pancreatic cancer on November 26, 1985, and the book was published just days later.

Legacy
Having learned about Thomas on the day of his death, Washingtonian writer Katie McCabe brought his story to public attention in a 1989 article entitled "Like Something the Lord Made," which won the 1990 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing and inspired the PBS documentary Partners of the Heart,[4] which was broadcast in 2003 on PBS's American Experience and won the Organization of American Historians's Erik Barnouw Award for Best History Documentary in 2004.[55] McCabe's article, brought to Hollywood by Washington, D.C. dentist Irving Sorkin,[56] formed the basis for the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning 2004 HBO film Something the Lord Made.

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 fall 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.[52] The Journal of Surgical Case Reports announced in January 2010 that its annual prizes for the best case report written by a doctor and best case report written by a medical student would be named after Thomas.[57]

Vanderbilt University Medical Center created the Vivien A. Thomas Award for Excellence in Clinical Research, recognizing excellence in conducting clinical research.[58]

Vivien Thomas...died Monday at home in the 1100 block of Springfield Ave...