Ferguson Features

If you have ever had surgery, and in particular, open-heart surgery, then you have benefitted from Thomas B. Ferguson, the grandson of Thompson Benton and Elva Shartel Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson was the son of Walter and Lucia (Loomis) Ferguson about whom I wrote in the Oct. 4 and 11th editions of the Republican.

Dr. Thomas Ferguson was born in Oklahoma and attributed his interest in medicine to his mother’s father, Dr. Loomis, who, after graduating from the Cincinnati Medical School in the 1880s, spent his life as a frontier doctor among the Choctaw Indians of Oklahoma territory. Dr. Ferguson attended school in Oklahoma, then undergraduate and medical school at Duke University in North Carolina. He trained in surgery at both Duke and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. With the exception of a fellowship in physiology and four years of private practice, he was always associated with the Barnes Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis.

Ferguson was a pioneer in heart surgery, playing an important role in bringing the first heart-lung machine to St. Louis in the late 1950s. In 1958, he and his colleagues performed Washington University’s first openheart surgery with the aid of the new heart-lung pump. He has been the Chairman of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (1974–1977) which certifies Thoracic surgeons. Tom served 16 years as the Editor of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (1984– 2000) and 10 years as the Editor of CTSNet (2000– 2009).

On May 11, 2009, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Thomas B. Ferguson, MD. Few surgeons of any generation have been so universally revered by their contemporaries as Tom Ferguson, the only living surgeon to have served as President of both the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (1976–1977) and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (1981–1982) Journal of Thoracic and Cardio Vascular Surgery 2009.

Dr. Ferguson died in 2013 at 90 from complications of a heart valve replacement.

Knowing the achievements of Dr. Thomas B. Ferguson helps us understand the qualities of his grandparents, TB and Elva Ferguson of Watonga, OK. Additional generations continue to honor TB and Elva Ferguson.