Publication Date
4-1-2017
Journal
The Texas Heart Journal
DOI
10.14503/THIJ-16-6048
PMID
28461793
Publication Date(s)
April 2017
Language
English
PMCID
PMC5408644
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
4-1-2017
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-Print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
Braunwald NS, cardiac surgical procedures/history, heart valve prosthesis/history, heart-lung machine, history, 20th century, physicians, women/history, thoracic surgery/history, United States
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Nina Starr Braunwald, the first female cardiac surgeon, made headlines during a time when almost all specialty surgeons were men.
Women have typically been deterred from entering surgical specialties, in part because of their traditional dual burden of managing their households and careers. Instead, female medical students and junior doctors have tended to be more attracted to medical specialties. This was the reality during Dr. Braunwald's venture into medicine in 1949. However, she never allowed negative ideas to keep her from joining a surgical training program.
Under the mentorship of the prominent cardiac surgeons Charles Hufnagel and Andrew Morrow, Dr. Braunwald progressed in her career by conducting research that led to her development and implantation of the first prosthetic mitral valve. She was also a great teacher.
Dr. Braunwald balanced her personal and professional activities admirably, and her example still inspires female doctors to consider careers in cardiothoracic surgery. In this report, we provide details of her impact on cardiac surgery and insights into her successes.