Henry Ford Hospital - Historical Highlights: 1940s - 1950s

Henry Ford Hospital participated in the United States government trials for the use of the new drug penicillin for the treatment of infection. Drs. Conrad R. Lam and Edward Quinn supervised this work in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Internal Medicine treating around 40 medical and surgical patients with the drug.

Female medical interns were accepted for the first time in the history of the hospital due to the shortage of male doctors during Word War II. Read more about the early women physicians at Henry Ford Hospital.

Dr. Louis Steiner established the Department of Preventive Medicine to provide physicals and vaccinations for executives traveling overseas during the war. It was one of the first travel clinics in the United States.

Frank W. Hartman, M.D., Chief of Pathology, developed the liquid oxygen tent to assist in patient care. 

Robert Ziegler, M.D. began the routine use of multiple-lead electrocardiograms at Henry Ford Hospital.

The Henry Ford School of Nursing and Hygiene began an affiliation with Wayne State University. From 1944-1946, nursing student curriculum expanded in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and chemistry.

Drs. Conrad R. Lam, D. Emerick Szilagyi, and Magda E. Puppendahl researched the use of tantalum gauze for the repair of ventral hernias from 1945-1948. In 1948, they published an article in the Archives of Surgery reporting that tantalum gauze was easy to manipulate and a strong fabric for use in surgery.  

The Department of Anesthesiology is established with Major A.B. Stearns as its first doctor. Prior to this, Drs. Laurence Fallis and Conrad R. Lam served as liaisons for anesthesiology work in the hospital.

Drs. Robert F. Ziegler and F. Mason Sones establish one of the first cardiology training programs in the United States.

Joseph H. Shaffer, M.D. founded the Division of Allergy and Immunology. 

Edward Quinn, M.D. founded the Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Quinn was a noted physician and researcher, recognized for his expertise on heart valve infections and the evaluation of antibiotics.

May 1, 1947 - The Edsel B. Ford Institute for Medical Research was established with two departments, Biochemistry and Physics. At its inception, the Institute was devoted to these three principles: "1. Research in the basic sciences which have contributed so greatly to advances in Medicine. 2. Research in areas requiring collaboration between men and the basic sciences, and members of the clinical staff. 3. Training of investigators." Quote from Henry Ford Hospital Medical Bulletin, 1958; 6(1 pt2): 84. 

Dr. Oliver H. Gaebler became head of the Department of Biochemistry. Dr. Gaebler came to the hospital in 1928 as a research assistant for chemistry in the pathology department.

John H.L. Watson, Ph.D. became chairman of the Department of Physics and Biophysics. In 1958, at the 10-year anniversary of the Physics Department, Dr. Watson wrote an article detailing its beginnings for the Henry Ford Hospital Medical Bulletin. Read the article.

Raymond W. Manto, M.D. founded the Division of Hematology.

Urologist John K. Ormond, M.D. is credited with the first detailed description of idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis in the English language. The disease is commonly called "Ormond's Disease." Read Dr. Ormond's article.

The hospital added new divisions in Internal Medicine and Surgery. These included Allergy with Dr. Joseph Shaffer, Infectious Disease with Dr. Edward Quinn, Pediatric Cardiology under Dr. Robert Ziegler, Rheumatology with Dr. Dwight Ensign, Oral Surgery with Dr. Fred Henny, Plastic Surgery with Dr. Robert Clifford, Thoracic Surgery with Dr. Conrad R. Lam, Physical Medicine with Dr. Joseph Szokaly, Pulmonary, with Dr. Ben E. Goodrich and Oral Surgery with Dr. Donald Bellinger.

Pine Knob, the estate of Colonel And Mrs. Sidney D. Waldon, located in Clarkston, Michigan was purchased by the hospital for use as a convalescent postoperative and psychiatric center. The departments of Orthopedics, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry utilized the center, which was maintained by the hospital staff. It functioned until 1958 when it was considered to be too far away from the main hospital.

Robin C. Buerki, M.D. was appointed as the Executive Director of Henry Ford Hospital. He created the hospital's international medical symposiums, enlarged the medical and nursing staff, and promoted medical education.

Frank W. Hartman, M.D. and Vivian Behrmann, Ph.D. presented before the American Psychological Society on an "automatic blood pressure recorder" that they invented. The compact device featured a double cuff for recording both the systolic and diastolic pressure intermittently over long periods of time. The two collaborated on numerous medical devices throughout their time at the hospital. 

The first graft of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in the state of Michigan, and one of the first in the world, was performed by D. Emerick Szilagyi, M.D.

Frank J. Sladen, M.D. retired as the Chief of Medicine. In his 37 years in this position, he supported medical education, worked on the building of the hospital campus, assisted in the Ford Foundation grant proposal, and placed an emphasis on medical education.

Robert Knighton, M.D. became chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, a position he held until 1978. During Dr. Knighton's time with the department, he helped to establish the residency training program. 

The first operation for the closure of the interauricular defect at Henry Ford Hospital was performed by Conrad R. Lam, M.D. The surgery used the atrio-septo-pexy method developed by pioneer heart surgeon C.P. Bailey, M.D., to close the defect. 

Dr. Richmond Smith founded the Division of Endocrinology, and later the laboratories. During the 1950s, he studied and published on environmental, nutritional, and endocrine factors in metabolic bone disease and on the clinical effectiveness of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) for inflammatory diseases of the eye.

The Henry Ford Medical Bulletin was started to report on the research work of the Edsel B. Ford Institute for Medical Research. In 1967, the publication was renamed the Henry Ford Hospital Medical Journal and continued under this name until it ceased publication in 1992.

Update 2019: The journal has been digitized and issues are currently being added to our institutional repository, Scholarly Commons. Read past issues at https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/hfhmedjournal/. 

In April, the Henry Ford Hospital newsletter, Thermonitor, was introduced to the hospital staff. The first editor was Robert Pethrick of the Credit Department, followed by William Nye of Public Relations. The newsletter reported on events and staff activities at the hospital. The Thermonitor was the forerunner to the current employee newsletter The Monitor.

The first homograft blood vessel bank in the state was established at Henry Ford Hospital. Sterilized human cadaver homografts were used in clinical practice and shared with other institutions.

Pioneer ophthalmic surgeon Jack S. Guyton, M.D. was brought to the hospital to be chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. In 1967, Dr. Guyton developed the Department of Biological Mathematics and Computer Science and was influential in promoting the use of computers at the hospital. 

Dr. Boy Frame, an internationally known bone and mineral specialist, joined Henry Ford Hospital and later founded the Bone and Mineral Division. 

Michael J. Brennan, M.D., former staff member of the Division of Hematology and noted breast cancer researcher, founded the Division of Oncology. Dr. Brennan left the hospital in 1966 to be president and medical director of the Michigan Cancer Foundation. 

On January 28, the Clinic Building officially opened and featured a modern environment with a modular system of walls and more space for outpatient services. Read more about the Clinic Building.

In January, the first meeting of the initial group of the Six Clinic Conference met at Henry Ford Hospital. The meeting with Ochsner Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic was to discuss the formation of a group to converse on medical issues in closed practice hospitals. In March, the group met in New Orleans at the Ochsner Medical Center with hospital staff from Lahey, Lovelace, Cleveland, Mayo and Henry Ford Hospital in attendance.

John W. Roebuck, M.D. discovered the 'human-skin-window' procedure, a state-of-the-art test to monitor a patient's ability to fight infection by directly examining functioning white blood cells in a man-made window in the forearm skin. This technique became the laboratory method for students studying the inflammatory process and a means to monitor the immune system in ulcerative colitis, diabetes mellitus, allergy, and human organ transplant rejection.

Conrad R. Lam, M.D. performed the first successful open heart surgery at Henry Ford Hospital using a heart-lung machine on May 2, 1956.

James Barron, M.D. developed the Barron Food Pump, a device used to deliver pureed food through a small nasal gastric tube. Read more about the Barron Food Pump.

WWJ-TV in Detroit broadcast a live telecast of a surgical procedure involving the resection of an aorta and replacement with an artificial Dacron graft. The operation, performed by D. Emerick Szilagyi, M.D. and Roger F. Smith, M.D., was narrated by a distinguished group of doctors. The event was sponsored by the Wayne County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical Society in conjunction with the 12th Annual Michigan Clinical Institute. Read more about the live broadcast.