This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. William C. DeVries on August 20, 2019 by Emily Stewart as part of the Dr. David Sabiston Oral History Project.
Duration: 00:50:35
During the interview, DeVries discusses his education; work at the University of Utah School of Medicine with Dr. Willem Kolff on the artificial heart; how Kolff "loaned" him to Sabiston for his surgical residency at Duke; his surgical residency at Duke; memories of Sabiston including the time Sabiston sent him home because he dressed in the dark and accidentally put on different colored socks; learning about the importance of the pursuit of excellence of Sabsiton; building the cardiac surgery program at the University of Utah and VA Hospital; putting artificial hearts in animals; first patient to receive an artificial heart and the media frenzy; his move to Louisville, Kentucky, to work on artificial hearts at Humana; and other career related memories.
Digital files include transcript (.DOCX), interview (.MP3), and consent form (.PDF).