Andrew S. Wechsler Oral History Interview, June 18, 2019

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Summary

Creator:
Duke University. Medical Center. Department of Surgery.
Abstract:
Dr. Andrew S. Wechsler, MD, emeritus professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine, was the Stanley K. Brockman Professor and Chairman of the Department of from 1998 to 2011. Wechsler completed his Residency in General and Thoracic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center (1973) and afterwards joined the faculty (1974-1988). This collection contains 1 oral history interview conducted on June 18, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project. In the interview, Wechsler discusses his early life, education, decision to enter the medical profession, decision to switch from cardiology to cardiac surgery, experiences with Sabiston as a resident and faculty member at Duke, what is was like to move from the North to the South in the seventies, Sabiston's rigid but principled manner, experiences offered to him because of Sabiston's support, reestablishing the cardiac surgery program at the Durham VA, leaving Duke to become a professor and chair in the Department of Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia, and other memories of Sabiston and his wife, Aggie.
Extent:
1 Interview (1 transcript) and 106 MB
Collection ID:
OH.WECHSLERA

Background

Scope and content:

Includes 1 oral history interview with Dr. Andrew S. Wechsler conducted on June 18, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.

In the June 18, 2019 interview, Wechsler discusses his early life, education, decision to enter the medical profession, decision to switch from cardiology to cardiac surgery, experiences with Sabiston as a resident and faculty member at Duke, what is was like to move from the North to the South in the seventies, Sabiston's rigid but principled manner, experiences offered to him because of Sabiston's support, reestablishing the cardiac surgery program at the Durham VA, leaving Duke to become a professor and chair in the Department of Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia, and other memories of Sabiston and his wife, Aggie.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Andrew S. Wechsler, MD, was born and grew up in New York City on the Upper West Side where he attended the Bronx High School of Science before transferring to New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York, when his parents moved from the city. He received a BA in Biology (Honors) from Brandis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (1960). He received a New York State scholarship to attend the State University of New York Medical School at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn (1964) where he received his MD. He completed his Residency in Medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School (1966) and his Residency in General and Thoracic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center (1973). Wechsler also completed a National Science Foundation Research Fellowship at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Donner Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley (1962) and a National Science Foundation Research Fellowship at the Institute for Cell Research, Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (1963).

Upon graduation, Wechsler joined the faculty at Duke (1974-1988), where he ran a research lab, reestablished the Durham VA cardiac surgery program, and worked at Duke Hospital. Wechsler performed the first heart transplant at Duke, which was also the first heart transplant in North Carolina. Wechsler left Duke to become a professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. After leaving the Medical College of Virginia, Wechsler joined the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was the Stanley K. Brockman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine (1998-2011). He is now an emeritus professor in the department.

Wechsler's research interests are in heart failure surgical management and surgical heart bypass. He served as Visiting Professor at more than 50 institutions nationally and internationally, as well as serving on many scientific advisory committees for major medical device and pharmaceutical firms, DSMBs, and the Leducq Foundation. He served as CEO of CTSnet and is on the New York State Cardiac Advisory Committee. He is the Editor Emeritus of the "Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery".

Acquisition information:
Accession A2020.059 (transferred by Mary-Russell Roberson, July 2020)
Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Interview, June 18, 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], Andrew S. Wechsler Oral History Interview, Duke University Medical Center Archives.