Visiting Professors and Lectures

Norman Edward Shumway (February 9, 1923 – February 10, 2006) was a pioneer of heart surgery at Stanford. Shumway, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at the Stanford School of Medicine, performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States in 1968 at Stanford. The landmark operation created a burst of enthusiasm for heart transplantation.

Shumway joined the Stanford School of Medicine faculty in 1958 as an instructor in surgery. Shortly after his arrival, the medical school moved from San Francisco to Palo Alto, giving Shumway the opportunity to launch the cardiovascular surgery program at the new campus. He served as the interim Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery in 1959.

In 1968, Shumway worked with Edward Stinson to perform the first adult human heart transplant in the U.S. In 1981, Shumway and Bruce Reitz performed the world’s first successful combined heart-lung transplant. Shumway had a National Institutes of Health program grant for cardiac transplantation. Shumway later founded the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Stanford in 1974 and served as its first Chairman from 1974 to 1993.

A pioneer in the field of cardiothoracic surgery and "the father of heart transplant", Shumway is often referred to as the world's greatest first assistant and always insisted on the resident operating on the right side of the table. Shumway served as the 67th American Association for Thoracic Surgery President. Shumway died of lung cancer in Palo Alto in 2006, on the day after his 83rd birthday.

Dr. Lawrence Cohn was a San Francisco born pioneering cardiac surgeon, researcher, and medical educator. He has performed more than 11,500 cardiac surgical operations and was a world-renowned expert in the field of valve repair and replacement surgery. At the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, he pioneered the process of minimally invasive heart valve surgery along with many other innovations, including New  England's first heart transplant, bioprosthetic porcine valve, and computer­ assisted robot surgery. Dr. Cohn's clinical and research interests spanned the entirety of adult cardiac surgery. He published more than 550 original scientific articles, 105 book chapters, and 12 books. An excellent public speaker, Dr. Cohn delivered more than 1,000 lectures worldwide. 

Always striving to advance medical practices, Dr. Cohn and his wife Roberta, established a global health forum at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. This forum gathers speakers to discuss important health issues worldwide. Larry and Roberta also endowed the Lawrence H. and Mrs. Roberta Cohn Lectureship in Cardiovascular Surgery at Stanford Medical School in October 2015.

Dr. James B. D. Mark Family Lecture was so-named for the former head of Thoracic Surgery at Stanford, who supported and funded the annual event celebrating pioneering work in thoracic surgery.

Dr. Mark has held positions as Associate Dean for Student Affairs (1970-1972), Associate Dean for Regional Medical Affairs (1973-1974), Acting Chair of the Department of Surgery (1974-1977) and Chief of Staff of Stanford University Hospital (1988- 1992). He was a Senior Fulbright-Hays Fellow and Visiting Professor of Surgery at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania during the 1972-1973 academic year. He is a member of a number of professional organizations and has been president of seven of them, including the Halsted Society (1984), the Western Thoracic Surgical Association (1992-1993) and the American College of Chest Physicians (1994-1995). He has been recognized for his contributions to medical education by the Santa Clara County Medical Association (1984) and the Stanford University School of Medicine (1987). He received the Gold Medal of the City of Milan, Italy in 1990, the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Vanderbil t University School of Medicine in 1996, and the Albion Walter Hewlett Award from the Department of Medicine in 2005. Dr. Mark is the author of almost 150 scientific publications and was on the editorial board of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (1987- 1994), the World Journal of Surgery (1995-2003) and The Pharos (2002-2010).

Bruce A. Reitz is best known for leading the first combined heart-lung transplantation in 1981 with pioneer heart transplant surgeon, Norman Shumway. He obtained an undergraduate degree at Stanford University (B.S. 1966) a medical degree at Yale Medical School (M.D. 1970) and completed an internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1971) and residencies and fellowships at Stanford University Hospital (1972 and 1978) and the National Institutes of Health (1974). He joined the surgical faculty at Stanford University (1978) then became chief of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins University (1982–92) and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford (1992–2005). In 1995 he conducted another pioneering operation: the first Heartport procedure, using a device that allows minimally invasive coronary bypass and valve operations. Reitz also played a major role in the resident education program at Stanford, which he reorganized and maintained.