Case Western Reserve University has a history of being at the forefront of innovations, recently ranking the 11th most influential in science in the country.
While the rankings relied on alumni contributions to science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, faculty at CWRU also have played a significant role on the institution’s impact on society.
One such faculty member is Claude S. Beck—the answer to this week’s trivia question. Beck is responsible for many cardiac “first.”
Sixty years ago, Beck performed the first successful reversal of an otherwise fatal heart attack.
Before that, however, he already had:
- Performed the first removal of a heart tumor (1934),
- Completed the first surgical treatment of coronary artery disease (1935),
- Achieved the first successful defibrillation of the human heart (1947),
- Led the first course in CPR (1950)
Beck is also noted as the nation’s first professor of cardiovascular surgery.