Daniel Hale Williams -- USA
Daniel Hale Williams was a pioneer surgeon, he was the
first African American cardiologist, and in1893 performed one of the first successful open heart surgeries in the United States. He also founded Provident Hospital, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States.
Born on 18 January 1856 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He was the fifth of seven children born to Daniel and Sarah Williams. Daniel's father was a barber and he moved the family to Annapolis, Maryland. Daniel later moved to Edgerton, Wisconsin where he joined his sister and opened a barbershop. After moving to nearby Janesville, Daniel became fascinated by a local physician and decided to follow that profession.
He began working as an apprentice to the physician (Dr. Henry Palmer), and two years later in 1880 he entered what is now Northwestern University Medical School. After graduation in 1883, he opened his medical practice in Chicago, Illinois.
In line with the social and medical circumstances existing in that era, much of Williams early medical practice called for him to treat patients in their homes, including conducting occasional surgery on kitchen tables. So for those reasons, Williams needed to utilise many of the emerging antiseptic, sterilisation procedures of the day, setting high standards in medical procedures and sanitary conditions. He was soon appointed as a surgeon on the staff of the South Side Dispensary and then a clinical instructor in anatomy at Northwestern. In 1889 he was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Health, then in 1891, he co-founded Provident Hospital and Training School Association, which served Chicago’s South Side community and became the first training facility for African American nurses, and employed doctors of all races.
During Williams’ 1891-1912 tenure as physician the hospital expanded, largely due to its extremely high success rate in patient recovery (87%). In 1893, Williams’ legend grew as he daringly performed an open heart surgery on a young black man named James Cornish, who received a knife wound to the chest during a bar fight. Having lost a great deal of blood and having gone into shock, Williams opened Cornish’s chest cavity and operated on his heart without the patient dying from infection. At the time this was unheard of, Cornish recovered within 51 days and went on to live another fifty years. As a result of Williams’s success his procedures were standardised for internal surgeries.
When Daniel Hale Williams was appointed as Chief Surgeon at the Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. he reorganised the hospital, creating medical and surgical departments, setting up pathological and bacteriological units. He established a biracial staff of highly qualified doctors and nurses and established an internship program. In Recognition of their success doctors from all over the country came to view the hospital, and see how their surgery was performed. Daniel resigned from the Freedmen's hospital to resume his position as Chief Surgeon at Provident Hospital Chicago, also at the nearby Mercy Hospital, and St. Luke's Hospital, an exclusive hospital for wealthy White patients. He was also asked to travel across the country and attend to important patients or to oversee certain procedures.
When the American Medical Association refused to accept Black members, Williams helped to set up and served as Vice-President of the National Medical Association. In 1912, Williams was appointed associate attending surgeon at St. Luke's, and worked there until his retirement from medical practice. He received honorary degrees from Howard and Wilberforce Universities, he was named a charter member of the American College of surgeons and was a member of the Chicago Surgical Society. A Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was placed at US 22 eastbound (Blair St., 300 block), Hollidaysburg Pennsylvania, commemorating his accomplishments and marking his boyhood. Daniel Hale Williams died on 4 August 1931, having set standards and examples for all surgeons, for years to come.
Williams was honoured, amongst others, for his achievements in the Stevie Wonder song "Black Man", from the album Songs in the Key of Life.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Daniel Hale Williams on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.