Arthur DeBoer, (July 2, 1917-July 31, 2007), was an American cardiologist specializing in cardiac surgery at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

's Feinberg School of Medicine. DeBoer was one of the pioneer cardiac surgeons in

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and was on staff at Wesley Memorial Hospital (later called

Northwestern University Hospital The McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University is a consortium of urban, suburban, specialized, and general hospitals and Northwestern University. The member hospitals of the center have a total bed capacity of more than 2200. Education Cha ...

). DeBoer was the hospital's first chief of cardiothoracic surgery, and performed the first open heart operation at Wesley Memorial Hospital in 1958. He served as Chair of Northwestern's Department of Cardiovascular Surgery until 1975. He was also a pioneer in research on congenital heart defects. He was born to John and Lucy DeBoer in

Gallatin County, Montana Gallatin County is located in the U.S. state of Montana. With its county seat in Bozeman, it is the second-most populous county in Montana, with a population of 118,960 in the 2020 Census. The county's prominent geographical features are the ...

, and was a graduate of Montana Normal School (now University of Montana Western) earning his B.E. Degree in 1938. He earned a B.S. Degree from

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

while teaching school. He graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1946 and after serving his internship at Wesley Hospital he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Asia.

References

American cardiac surgeons 1917 births 2007 deaths University of Montana alumni Feinberg School of Medicine alumni Northeastern University faculty Cardiac surgery Cardiovascular researchers 20th-century surgeons {{US-physician-stub