Peter Allen

Peter Allen (December 13, 1921 – November 17, 2014) was a Canadian surgeon who played a leading role in improving cardiac surgery techniques. Along with Dr. Philip Ashmore, Dr. W.G. (Bill) Trapp and Dr. Ross Robertson, he performed the first Open Heart Surgery in British Columbia on 29 October 1957 at Vancouver General Hospital, by closing an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) in 9 year old John Evans, using Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB).

Background

Allen grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1946, he obtained an MD from the University of Toronto. In 1953, he received a Fellowship in general surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and, in 1964, a Fellowship in thoracic surgery from the same institution.

His post graduate training included one year of internal medicine at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands followed by years at the University of Toronto in the general surgery program at the Hospital for Sick Children and the Toronto General Hospital.

Returning to Vancouver, between early 1954 to mid-1956, he developed a practice in general surgery. During that period he held a research position at the British Columbia Research Institute under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Evelyn. The project tested the feasibility of replacing a diseased abdominal aorta with a mesh supported vena cava autograft

Honours and awards

1956 - Annual research prize of the British Columbia Surgical Society for work on the diseased abdominal aorta.

1957 - McLaughlin Fellowship to study cardiac surgery under Dr. Lillehei in Minneapolis.

1964 - Nuffield Travelling Fellowship to further study cardiac surgery at the Brompton Hospital in London and the Sulley Chest Hospital in Cardiff, Wales.

1972 - Invitation to address the Society of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland.

1978 - Vancouver Medical Association annual Osler Address.

1980 - Invitation to join the Pete's Club composed of United Kingdom and Western European cardiac surgeons. The meetings were unique in that only surgical failures and problem cases were discussed. He held the final meeting of the Pete's Club at the Vancouver General Hospital in 1989.

1998–present Member, Board of Directors, Ian Anderson House, Cancer Hospice, Oakville, ON

2011–present Joined the Grants Committee of the Oakville Community Foundation, a philanthropic group, Oakville, ON.