Lenox Hill Hospital - Medical Milestones and Pioneers

Medical Milestones and Pioneers

Many important milestones in the advancement of medical knowledge have been made at Lenox Hill Hospital, including:

• Introduction of antiseptic methods in obstetrics
• Installation of one of the first X-ray machines in America in 1897
• First tuberculosis pavilion in any American hospital
• First hemophilia center
• Introduction of the technique for bone marrow examination in 1931
• Development of the specialty of thoracic surgery
• First successful esophagectomy for carcinoma
• First surgical treatment of undescended testicles
• First angiocardiogram in the United States
• First coronary angioplasty in the United States
• Implantation of the first drug-eluting stent in the United States

Many medical pioneers were early members of the hospital's attending staff. Among them were:

• Henry Jacques Garrigues – introduced antiseptic obstetrics to North America
• Willy Meyer, M.D. – performed some of the earliest pulmonary surgery in America
• Abraham Jacobi, M.D. – the father of American pediatrics
• Leo Buerger, M.D. – described the disease that bears his name
• Carl Eggers, M.D., and Dewitt Stetten, M.D. – founding members of the American College of Surgeons
• Franz Torek, M.D. – performed the first successful esophagectomy for carcinoma and also developed the surgical treatment of undescended testicles
• William H. Stewart, M.D. – a former director of radiology, performed the first angiocardiogram in the United States in 1938.
• Simon Stertzer, M.D. of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and Richard K. Myler, M.D. of St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco – performed the first coronary angioplasties in the United States on the same day, March 1, 1978