F. William Blaisdell

Frank William Blaisdell (August 30, 1927 – April 18, 2020) is considered the father of modern trauma care and a pioneer in the field of vascular surgery. Blaisdell worked in the Veteran’s Health Administration system, at San Francisco General Hospital, and the UC Davis Medical Center in Northern California.

Early life Blaisdell was born on August 30, 1927 in Santa Barbara, California. Raised in Watsonville, CA, Blaisdell came from a family of physicians dating back to the American Civil War. The story of his great-grandfather surviving a shot to the chest while serving in the Union’s 12th New Hampshire Regiment, was told to Blaisdell as a young child and sparked a life-long interest in wartime injury care.

Education Blaisdell received a Bachelor's of Science from Stanford University in 1948, and then attended Stanford Medical School.

Career

Work with the Veteran’s Health Administration In 1960, Blaisdell returned to San Francisco to begin his tenure as Chief of Surgery for the Veteran’s Administration Hospital at Fort Miley.

Trauma care in San Francisco In 1966, Blaisdell became chief of the University of California’s Blue Surgery Service unit at San Francisco General Hospital.

Vascular surgery Alongside his trauma work, Blaisdell devised the axillary–femoral bypass in 1962 and contributed to the understanding of blood coagulation. This study informed our current clinical understanding of the mechanism of thrombosis.

UC Davis Medical Center In 1978, Blaisdell became chair of the Department of Surgery at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. , held hospital news conferences on Hurley’s condition, and commented on Hurley’s extensive recovery process for news reporters nationally.

Retirement Blaisdell stepped down as chair at the University of California Medical Center in the late 1990s, and transitioned to focus solely on his teaching duties there. and as a pioneer of vascular surgery. After his retirement, Blaisdell was awarded The J.E. Wallace Sterling Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine from Stanford Medicine Alumni Association in 2001 and the Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Surgeons in 2002.

The UC Davis Medical Center Library was renamed in Blaisdell’s honor in 2006 after the library received a donation from Blaisdell in the form of his Civil War Medicine collection , which contains over 400 titles relating to wartime medical and nursing practice. The F. William Blaisdell Medical Library is located in Sacramento, California on the UC Davis Health campus.

Selected works Blaisdell, F. W., & Cooley, D. A. (1962). The mechanism of paraplegia after temporary thoracic aortic occlusion and its relationship to spinal fluid pressure. Surgery, 51(3), 351-355. Blaisdell, F. W., & Hall, A. D. (1963). Axillary-femoral artery bypass for lower extremity ischemia. Surgery, 54(4), 563–568. Blaisdell, F. W., Hall, A. D., & Thomas, A. N. (1965). Ligation treatment of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The American Journal of Surgery, 109(5), 560–565. Blaisdell, F. W., Hall, A. D., Thomas, A. N., & Ross, S. J. (1965). Cerebrovascular Occlusive Disease—Experience with Panarteriography in 300 Consecutive Cases. California Medicine, 103(5), 321–329. Lim, R. C., Blaisdell, F. W., Choy, S. H., Hall, A. D., & Thomas, A. N. (1966). Massive pulmonary microembolism in regional shock. Surgical Forum, 17, 13–15. Blaisdell, F. W., Lim, R., & Hall, A. D. (1967). Technical result of carotid endarterectomy: Arteriographic assessment. The American Journal of Surgery, 114(2), 239–246. Schrock, T., Blaisdell, F. W., & Mathewson, C. (1968). Management of blunt trauma to the liver and hepatic veins. Archives of Surgery, 96(5), 698-704. Blaisdell, F. W., & Graziano, C. J. (1978). Assessment of clotting by the determination of fibrinogen catabolism. The American Journal of Surgery, 135(3), 436–443. Effeney, D. J., McIntyre, K. E., Blaisdell, F. W., & Graziano, C. J. (1978). Fibrinogen kinetics in major human burns. Surgical Forum, 29, 56–59. Effeney, D. J., Case, S. A., Graziano, C., & Blaisdell, F. W. (1979). Distribution and clearance of radioactive heparin. Surgical Forum, 30, 198–199. Blaisdell, F. W. (1979). Low-dose heparin prophylaxis of venous thrombosis: An editorial. American Heart Journal, 97(6), 685–686. Kashtan, J., Conti, S., & Blaisdell, F. W. (1980). Heparin therapy for deep venous thrombosis. The American Journal of Surgery, 140(6), 836-840 Blaisdell, F. W. (1985). Trauma Myths and Magic: 1984 Fitts Lecture. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 25(9), 856. Owings, J. T., & Blaisdell, F. W. (1996), Low-dose heparin thromboembolism prophylaxis. Archives of Surgery, 131(10), 1069-1073. Blaisdell, F. W., San Francisco General Hospital Foundation., & Grossman, M. (1999). Catastrophes, epidemics, and neglected diseases : San Francisco General Hospital and the evolution of public care. San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. Blaisdell, F. W. (2002). The pathophysiology of skeletal muscle ischemia and the reperfusion syndrome: a review. Cardiovascular surgery, 10(6), 620-630.