Dr. Thomas H. Burford (1908-1977) served as Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Washington University from 1951 to 1964. From then until his retirement in 1976, he continued to practice thoracic surgery at Barnes Hospital. His monumental effort and remarkable innovations in surgical management of thoracic war wounds during the Second World War earned him national prominence and the Legion of Merit Award. Dr. Burford was a founding member of the Board of Thoracic Surgery. He was honored with the Presidency of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 1970 and was the Second President of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 1966. For many years, he served as an associate editor of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Dr. Thomas B. Ferguson (1923-2013) received his undergraduate and medical education at Duke University, where he earned both a Phi Beta Kappa key and Alpha Omega Alpha. He completed residency training in physiology, general surgery and thoracic surgery at Harvard, Duke and Washington University. Since arriving in St. Louis in 1953 until the time of his death, Dr. Ferguson’s name was synonymous with thoracic surgery at the local, national, and international levels. He had a reputation for clinical excellence in addition to extraordinary administrative and editorial talents. Like Dr. Burford, Dr. Ferguson served as President of both the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in 1981 in Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 1976. He was also chairman of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and President of the American Board of Medical Specialties. Dr. Ferguson served as Editor of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery for 16 years, the longest tenure of any editor.
In 1970, friends and associates of Dr. Burford sought to honor his career by establishing and endowing the Thomas H. Burford Lecture in Cardiothoracic Surgery. The lectureship was a source of considerable pride to Dr. Burford. In 1993, Dr. David Sabiston delivered the first annual Thomas B. Ferguson Lecture in Cardiac Surgery. In 2015, both lectureships were combined to form the Burford-Ferguson Lectureship in Cardiothoracic Surgery to continue to honor the legacies of both renowned surgeons.
Previous Burford-Ferguson Visiting Professors
Burford-Ferguson Lectures in Cardiothoracic Surgery
- 2023 – Joanna Chikwe
- 2022 – Donald D. Glower, Jr.
- 2019 – Thoralf M. Sundt, III
- 2018 – Joseph S. Coselli
- 2017 – Pedro J. del Nido
- 2016 – Joseph E. Bavaria
- 2015 – David H. Adams
Thomas B. Ferguson Lectures in Cardiac Surgery
- 2013 – John D. Puskas
- 2012 – T. Bruce Ferguson
- 2011 – Vaughn A. Starnes
- 2010 – Robert A. Guyton
- 2009 – D. Craig Miller
- 2008 – Tirone E. David
- 2007 – W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr.
- 2006 – Thomas L. Spray
- 2005 – Hartzell V. Schaff
- 2004 – Delos M. Cosgrove
- 2003 – Irving L. Kron
- 2002 – Timothy J. Gardner
- 2001 – William A. Baumgartner
- 2000 – Cary W. Akins
- 1999 – Edward D. Verrier
- 1998 – Lawrence H. Cohn
- 1997 – Ernst Wolner
- 1996 – Robert B. Wallace
- 1995 – Mortimer J. Buckley
- 1994 – John W. Kirklin
- 1993 – David C. Sabiston
Thomas H. Burford Lectures in Cardiothoracic Surgery
- 1992 – Sir Magdi Yacoub
- 1991 – F. Griffith Pearson
- 1990 – Sir Brian Barratt Boyes
- 1989 – Hans G. Borst
- 1988 – Hermes C. Grillo
- 1987 – Mr. Donald Ross
- 1986 – Vallee L. Willman
- 1985 – F. Henry Eliis, Jr.
- 1984 – Prof. Ake Senning
- 1983 – Hassan Najafi
- 1982 – Harvey W. Bender, Jr.
- 1980 – Dwight C. McGoon
- 1979 – Denton A. Cooley
- 1978 – Paul A. Ebert
- 1977 – John A. Waldhausen
- 1976 – Henry T. Bahnson
- 1975 – Frank C. Spencer
- 1974 – Norman E. Shumway
- 1973 – Andrew G. Morrow
- 1972 – John W. Kirklin
- 1971 – Michael E. DeBakey