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Happy #VivienThomasDay! Today marks 110 years since the birth of Dr. Vivien Thomas. Although he never went to medical school, the surgical techniques he developed, such as the BTT shunt, are the foundation on which congenital heart surgery today was built. #CHD #ESCCongress2020 
After graduating from high school, Thomas enrolled at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College (now @TSUedu) as a pre-med. Unfortunately, the Great Depression depleted his savings, so he left college and found work as an assistant in Alfred Blalock's lab at @VUmedicine.
Blalock was doing research in traumatic shock and needed Thomas to help perform surgery on lab animals. Thomas learned quickly, and Blalock gave him more and more independence in the lab. Years later, surgical trainees who worked with Thomas would marvel at his surgical skill.
