[St. Jude, University of Minnesota]

C. Walton Lillehei

Interview:
70 minutes, May 8, 1998, St. Jude Medical, Little Canada, Minnesota
Interviewer: David Rhees

Interview Excerpt:
Audio MP3 File | Excerpt Transcript

Subjects Discussed: Work on babies and children with heart defects: hypothermia, controlled cross-circulation, heart-lung machines, Richard DeWall, inventor of the bubble oxygenator, open-heart surgery in Rochester and at the U of M, membrane oxygenator. Work on adults: valvular lesions, anuloplastry, replacing valves. Artificial valves: ball valve and problems with it, Lillehei-Nakib valve, Lillehei-Kaster valve, pulse duplicator, pyrolytic carbon, St. Jude valve, Omniscience valve. Manuel Villafaña and St. Jude Medical. Tissue replacement valves.

Sound Recordings:
User copy: 2 60-minute cassettes
Original: 2 60-minute cassettes

Restrictions on Use: None

Transcript: 28 pages

Accession Number: AV 2001.104.9

C. Walton Lillehei was born and educated in Minnesota. In the early 1950s, he performed the first successful open-heart surgery. He developed new procedures and ideas for medical devices like pacemakers and heart valves to improve heart function. He served as a researcher and professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He was the Medical Director of St. Jude Medical’s Heart Valve Division. He died in 1999.