Walter Randolph Chitwood Jr. Oral History Interview, 2019

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Summary

Creator:
Duke University. Medical Center. Department of Surgery.
Abstract:
Dr. Walter Randolph "Ranny" Chitwood Jr., MD, is a former Duke Surgery Resident. He is known for his work as a cardiothoracic surgeon. He is also the Founding Director of the East Carolina Heart Institute, Emeritus Department of Surgery East Carolina University (ECU) Chair, and Emeritus Professor of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at ECU. This collection contains 1 oral history interview conducted on August 5, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project. In the interview, Chitwood discusses his early life, education, family of doctors, how he came to Duke for his residency, his medical career, and his memories of Sabiston.
Extent:
1 Interview (1 transcript) and 81.9 MB
Language:
English
Collection ID:
OH.CHITWOODW

Background

Scope and content:

Includes 1 oral history interview with Dr. Walter Randolph "Ranny" Chitwood Jr. conducted on August 5, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.
In the August 5, 2019 interview, Chitwood discusses his early life, education, family of doctors, how he came to Duke for his residency, his medical career, and his memories of Sabiston.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Walter Randolph "Ranny" Chitwood Jr., MD, was born in Wytheville, Virginia, into a family of doctors. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with a BS in 1968. He received his MD from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1974. He obtained his surgical training at Duke University Medical Center under Dr. David Sabiston, where he spent 10 years training in general and cardiothoracic surgery and conducting basic science research: Resident (1974-1976), Research Fellow (1976-1978), Senior Resident (1978-1982), Chief Resident (1982-1983), Cardiothoracic Teaching Scholar (1983-1984). He was the first house staff member at Duke to be selected to Alpha Omega Alpha.
After leaving Duke, Chitwood was selected to develop and head the new cardiac surgery program at East Carolina University (ECU) School of Medicine in Greenville, North Carolina. His initial appointment was as full Professor of Surgery. Except for a two year stint at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, as Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Chitwood spent his entire career at ECU: Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery (1984-2009), Chairman of the Department of Surgery (1996-2003), and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor of the Health Sciences Division for Cardiovascular Diseases (2003-2015). Chitwood was also the Founding Director of the East Carolina Heart Institute.
Chitwood specializes in complex valvular surgery, including mitral repair and endoscopic mitral valve surgery. He has written widely and lectured internationally on innovative techniques in minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery.
Chitwood is the member of numerous professional societies including the American College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, the Society of University Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Cardiac Surgery Biology Club. He is on numerous committees in these societies. He has been President of the International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, The Society for Heart Valve Disease, and the North Carolina Chapter of the American Heart Association. He served the editorial boards of the "Annals of Thoracic Surgery"; the "Journal of Cardiac Surgery"; the "Journal of Heart Valve Disease"; the "Asian Annals of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery"; CTS Net, the "Heart Surgery Forum, Chest, and the American Heart Journal". He has authored over 150 peer reviewed scientific and clinical articles, as well as many book chapters and several monographs.
His lifelong avocations have been photography, amateur radio, and antiquarian medical bibliophilia. Chitwood is married to his wife, Tammy.

Acquisition information:
Accession A2020.038 (transferred by Mary-Russell Roberson, August 2020)
Processing information:

Processed by Lucy Waldrop: August 2020

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Interview, August 5, 2019.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Contents

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Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Walter Randolph Chitwood Jr. Oral History Interview, Duke University Medical Center Archives.