CPP 2/012-04: John H. Gibbon correspondence, 1964

Series — Box: 1, Folder: 4

Scope and Contents

This small collection of John Gibbon’s correspondence dates to 1964 and includes correspondence to and from Gibbon about the possibility of funding from the Philadelphia Foundation.

Dates

1964

Biographical / Historical

John Heysham Gibbon, Jr., son of physician John H. Gibbon, was born in Philadelphia on 29 September 1903. He married Mary ("Maly") Hopkinson in 1931; they had four children. Gibbon died on 5 February 1973.

Gibbon received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1923, then an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1927. After an internship at Pennsylvania Hospital, he became a Fellow in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, 1930-1934, then a Fellow in Surgical Research at the University of Pennsylvania, 1936-1942. After service in World War II, Gibbon joined the faculty at Jefferson Medical College as professor of surgery and director of surgical research. He developed and perfected an extracorporeal heart lung machine for use during vascular surgery; it was first used successfully with a human patient at Jefferson in May 1953.

Gibbon was a member of many professional organizations, including the American Surgical Association, American Association of Thoracic Surgery, the Society for Clinical Surgery, and the Society for Vascular Surgery. He was elected to fellowship in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1934 and served as its President from 1964 to 1966.