Daniel Hale Williams - Introduction:
African American Doctor Daniel Hale Williams is credited with having performed open heart surgery on July 9, 1893 before such surgeries were established. In 1913, Daniel Hale Williams Williams was the only African American member of the American College of Surgeons.
Daniel Hale Williams - Famous Operation:
Daniel Hale Williams successfully operated on James Cornish, the victim of a knifing. The operation was considered at the time a ground-breaking. The doctor opened the patient's chest revealing a beating heart to stitch a small wound in the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart.
Daniel Hales Williams - Other Achievements:
Daniel Hales Williams utilized many of the emerging antiseptic, sterilization procedures of the day and thereby gained a reputation for professionalism. The doctor began his medical practice in Chicago at a time when there were only three other black physicians. In 1891, in Chicago, Daniel Hales Williams founded Provident, the first American interracial hospital. Provident hosted the first nursing school for blacks in America.
Daniel Hales Williams - Background:
Daniel Hales Williams was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania on January 18,1858. He graduated from Chicago Medical College in 1883. Daniel Hales Williams and Alice Johnson were wed on April 2, 1898. He died on August 4, 1931, in Idlewild, Michigan.