This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vatner, S. F. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Vatner, S. F.

(Circulation Research. 2003;92:1272.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

In Memoriam

Arthur C. Guyton, MD (1919–2003)

Stephen F. Vatner

From the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ.

Correspondence to Stephen F. Vatner, MD, Director and Chair, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, PO Box 1709, 185 S Orange Ave, MSB G-609, Newark, NJ 07101. E-mail vatnersf@umdnj.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

On April 3, 2003, cardiovascular science lost one of its most influential figures when Dr Arthur C. Guyton died. No one contributed more to our understanding of cardiovascular function in health and disease than Dr Guyton over more than the last half-century, which spanned his career.

He was born in Oxford, Mississippi, and graduated first in his high school class, and 3 years later in 1939, he was first in his class again at the University of Mississippi, where he majored in Chemistry, minored in Mathematics, and received the highest award for Physics. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1943. His first love in medical school was surgery, and he completed a surgical internship and assistant residency in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1947, which was interrupted by 2 years of Naval service during World War II.

As with all great leaders and even research discoveries, serendipity, as well as meticulous planning, plays a role in determining the outcome. In Dr Guyton’s case, an unfortunate turn of events, his contraction of polio in 1947, left him paralyzed, but undaunted. This case of "bad luck" turned out to be a blessing for the field of cardiovascular physiology, since Dr Guyton relinquished his surgical career and became encompassed in physiology’s research, teaching, and administration. He assumed the Chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Mississippi in 1948 and held that post until he retired in 1989. It is interesting that although his first papers related to . . . [Full Text of this Article]