TY - JOUR
AU1 - Longo, Walter E.
AB - Each year, when the Yale Surgical Society convenes for its spring reunion, a former member of the Department of Surgery is honored. Tribute was paid to the former cardiothoracic surgeon and department chairman, Arthur E. Baue, MD, during the 12th annual meeting on May 31, 2007. Attendees included Dr and Mrs Baue, their children, many former surgical residents, and members of the current Department of Surgery. The grand rounds format began with a history of thoracic surgery, included remembrances of Dr Baue by former residents, and culminated in a review of Dr Baue's illustrious career from his residency to faculty appointments, publications, keynote addresses, chairmanship at Yale, role as editor-in-chief of the Archives of Surgery, and finally positions at the St Louis University Medical Center. A tale of two cities details Dr Baue's academic career, of which 30 years were spent in St Louis, Missouri, and New Haven, Connecticut. Arthur Edward Baue was born in St Louis on October 7, 1929, and grew up in St Charles, Missouri, a small town on the Missouri River. In 1950, he graduated summa cum laude from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and went on to Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, where his interest in surgery developed. He was selected for surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) following his graduation from Harvard in 1954. Enlisting in the air force as part of the Barry Plan, Dr Baue's residency was interrupted after his third year, and he, with his wife, the former Rosemary Dysart, was sent as a surgeon to the Clark Air Force Base Hospital in the Philippine Islands for 2 years. After returning to MGH, Dr Baue finished his general surgery residency, became the first MGH cardiac surgical resident, and in 1961, served as chief surgical resident. In 1962, Dr Baue received a Travel Fellowship to work in England with Mr Ronald Belsey, refining his thoracic surgical techniques, and adding performance of the Belsey-Mark IV esophageal operation (which he helped popularize in the United States1) to his growing list of surgical skills. Dr Baue returned to the United States for his first academic position in the new Medical School and Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia, from where he wrote 2 landmark papers. The first, written with Dr Gerald Austen from the MGH, was on superior mesenteric artery embolism and detailed the pathophysiologic findings of previous case reports in the literature.2 Their series of 3 patients called attention to the prototype patient who presents with pain that is out of proportion to the physical findings seen in a patient with an unexplained abdominal illness. The second paper described the importance of immediate thoracotomy in patients with a stab wound to the heart.3 The patient in this report did well and was discharged home, a rare occurrence in 1963. Dr Baue was next recruited to the University of Pennsylvania. During his 5 years at Penn, he rose to associate professor of surgery. In 1968, Dr Walter Ballinger, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, recruited Dr Baue back to St Louis, thus beginning a tale of two cities. He became the Edison Professor of Surgery at Washington University and the chief of surgery at the prestigious Jewish Hospital, now part of the renowned Barnes-Jewish Medical Center in St Louis. Dr Baue established the first open heart surgery at the hospital and continued his interest in critical care. Among his article topics were the treatment of septic shock4 and the effects of alcohol as it related to trauma.5 It was during this time that Dr Baue observed dying patients in the intensive care unit and first recognized and described the phenomena of multiple organ failure.6 The tale of two cities continues in 1975, when Dr Baue was recruited to be chairman of the Yale University Department of Surgery in New Haven. As the Donald Guthrie Professor of Surgery, he was chief of general surgery, chief of thoracic surgery, and program director of surgery. He was able to add Dr Alexander Geha to form a robust adult cardiac surgical program that included Drs William Glenn and Graeme Hammond. Drs Hillel Laks and Gary Kopf were soon added for pediatric congenital heart surgery. Dr Baue brought Dr Irshad Chaudry with him to be in charge of the research laboratory. Their interest and collaboration in shock not only contributed tremendously to the medical literature but served as a vehicle for scholarly activity for residents and junior faculty. Dr Eugene Faist came to Yale to work in the laboratory, and later, with Dr Baue's assistance, founded the International Society for Shock, Inflammation and Sepsis, whose annual meeting has become the definitive meeting at which to share findings from these areas of scholarly activity. Dr Baue also instituted the “Haiti rotation” that gave residents an invaluable experience in third world surgery. During the 10 years of his tenure as chairman, the department became “truly academic” and there were many accomplishments, not the least of which was the consolidation of the surgical sections. As if he did not have enough to do, Dr Baue became the editor-in-chief of the Archives of Surgery in 1977, a position he held until 1988, taking this American Medical Association journal into a new era of surgical science. One of Dr Baue's pleasures was his involvement with the New England Surgical Society, but it was no longer possible with the new transition, again to St Louis.7 Dr Baue completed his 10-year term as chairman at Yale and was invited back to family “roots” by Dr Vallee Willman in 1985, who was chairman of the Department of Surgery at St Louis University (SLU), that included among its ranks Drs George Kaiser, Glenn Pennington, Keith Naunheim, and Donald Kaminski. Shortly after arriving in St Louis, Dr Baue was recruited by the president and board of directors to be the vice president of SLU for the Medical Center, a position responsible for oversight of the Medical School, the University Hospital, the Nursing School, the School of Allied Health Professions, and the Center for Health Care Ethics. He understood the importance of both clinical care and an academically productive faculty and the changing future for providing care. He returned to the Department of Surgery in the early 1990s until his retirement in 1998. A role he greatly enjoyed was director of surgical education at St Mary's Hospital, part of the SLU residency program. Dr Baue had a most enviable and productive career. He published more than 650 manuscripts, book chapters, and editorials. He coauthored a number of textbooks and will most be remembered for the book he championed, Glenn's Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery,8 and the book for which he was sole author, Multiple Organ Failure: Pathophysiology, Prevention and Treatment.9 In his retirement, he finally answered for family and friends the questions they had asked, in a resource, nonacademic genre, Doctor, Can I Ask You a Question?10 Dr Baue has achieved what many desire: an Ivy League education; a department chairmanship; holding 2 endowed chairs; being a productive academic, a founder of an international society, a vice president of a university, and a person responsible for the training of surgeons, faculty members, research scientists—the list goes on. Regardless of accolades, those of us in the Yale Surgical Society look to Dr Baue as an outstanding physician, a dedicated teacher, role model, mentor, hero, and good friend. The tale of two cities concludes not exactly in New Haven but close, on an island in Long Island Sound where Dr and Mrs Baue now live, where family and friends visit, and where he continues to ponder the questions of everyday life. Correspondence: Dr Longo, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St – LH 118, New Haven, Connecticut 06510 (walter.longo@yale.edu). References 1. Baue AE The Belsey Mark IV procedure. Ann Thorac Surg 1980;29 (3) 265- 269PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 2. Baue AEAusten WG Superior mesenteric artery embolism. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1963;116474- 480PubMedGoogle Scholar 3. Baue AE Immediate thoracotomy for a stab wound to the heart. JAMA 1963;186521PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 4. Baue AE Recent developments in the study and treatment of shock. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1968;127 (4) 849- 878PubMedGoogle Scholar 5. Malt SHBaue AE The effects of ethanol as related to trauma in the awake dog. J Trauma 1971;11 (1) 76- 86PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 6. Baue AE Multiple progressive or sequential system failure- a syndrome of the 1970’s. Arch Surg 1975;110 (7) 779- 781PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 7. Baue AE The Archives of Surgery, New England Surgical Society, and JAMA. JAMA 1986;255 (16) 2210- 2211PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 8. Baue AEed Glenn's Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Stamford, CT Appleton & Lange1996; 9. Baue AE Multiple Organ Failure: Pathophysiology, Prevention and Treatment. New York, NY Springer2001; 10. Baue AE Doctor, Can I Ask You a Question? Your Health Care Questions Answered. Philadelphia, PA Xlibris Corp2005;
TI - A Tale of Two Cities: The Yale Surgical Society's Tribute to Arthur E. Baue, MD
JF - Archives of Surgery
DO - 10.1001/archsurg.143.5.495
DA - 2008-05-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/american-medical-association/a-tale-of-two-cities-the-yale-surgical-society-s-tribute-to-arthur-e-5EOLBKzu4M
SP - 495
EP - 496
VL - 143
IS - 5
DP - DeepDyve
ER -