William Stewart Halsted - Top Surgeons - Best Surgeons

William Stewart Halsted (September 23, 1852 � September 7, 1922) is known as the father of American surgery.

Born in New York City, he was the founder of the American residency training system of progressive responsibility.

William S. Halsted was named the first chief of the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital when it initially opened in May 1889. He was named Surgeon-in-chief in 1890 and promoted to Professor of Surgery in 1892. He is accredited with starting the first formal surgical residency training program in the United States.

Halsted�s surgical residency program consisted of an internship period (the length was left undefined and individuals advanced once Halsted believed they were ready for the next level of training). Internship was followed by 6 years as assistant resident and then 2 years as house surgeon. Halsted�s first resident was Frederick J. Brockway who started in May 1889 but dropped out of the program in October 1890 to teach anatomy. Halsted went on to train many of the academic surgeons of the time including Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy.

He is also well known for his many other medical and surgical achievements. As one of the first proponents of hemostasis and investigators of wound healing, Halsted pioneered the modern surgical fundamental principles of absolute control of bleeding, accurate anatomical dissection, complete sterility, exact approximation of tissue in wound closures without excessive tightness, and gentle handling of tissues. The first radical mastectomy for breast cancer was performed by Halsted. Other achievements include advances in thyroid, biliary tree, hernia, intestinal, and arterial aneurysm surgeries.