Background
Ochsner, Alton was born on May 4, 1896 in Kimball, South Dakota, United States. Son of Edward Phillip and Clara (Shontz) Ochsner.
Ochsner, Alton was born on May 4, 1896 in Kimball, South Dakota, United States. Son of Edward Phillip and Clara (Shontz) Ochsner.
Bachelor of Arts, Univercity South Dakot, 1918, Doctor of Science, 1936. Doctor of Medicine Washington University, 1920. Doctor of Laws, Tulane University, 1966.
Doctor honorary, U. Athens, Greece.
Among its many services are heart transplants. Reared in Kimball, South Dakota, Ochsner was an unlikely hero of Southern medicine. He was recruited to Tulane from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
In 1927, he succeeded the legendary Rudolph Matas as professor and chairman of the Tulane Department of Surgery.
Although Tulane did not have its own hospital at the time, Ochsner succeeded in organizing one of America"s premier surgical teaching programs at New Orleans Charity Hospital, an institution that provided invaluable clinical opportunities to Ochsner and his students. As a medical student at Louis, young Ochsner was summoned to observe lung cancer surgery—something, he was told, that he might never see again.
He did not witness another case for seventeen years. Then he observed eight in six months all being smokers who had picked up the habit in World War I. He believed the psychologically taxing ordeal programmed students to perform well under stress and kept them on their toes.
At Touro Hospital one of his patients was jazz musician Muggsy Spanier, who credited Ochsner with saving his life and composed the tune "Relaxin" at the Touro" during his recovery.
The, which he cofounded, was one of the first to document the link between cancer and cigarette use. He pioneered the "war against smoking." His leadership in exposing the hazards of tobacco and its link to lung cancer remain one of his most important contributions. He maintained this association even though he was criticized and ridiculed by his peers.
Known today as the Ochsner Medical Center, it is one of the United States of America"s largest group practices and academic medical centers.
In 1990 alone, the clinic had 650,000 outpatient visits.
American College of Surgeons fellow (regent, past president), American, Southern (past president) surgical associations, Royal College Surgeons Ireland (honorary), Royal College Surgeons England (honorary). Member International Society Surgery (past president), American Medical Association, American Association Thoracic Surgery (past president, honorary), Society Vascular Surgery (past president), International Surgical Society Clinical Surgery, Southeastern (past president), Southern (past president) surgical associations, Orleans Parish Medical Society, American Cancer Society (director), Pan-Pacific Surgical Association (president 1963), Southern, Louisiana medical associations, American Academy Orthopedic Surgeons (honorary), Academie Royale de Medecine de Belgique (foreign honorary), numerous foreign science associations (honorary), Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Nu Sigma Nu, Alpha Omega Alpha, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Delta Theta. Clubs: Boston, New Orleans Country.
Married Isabel Kathryn Lockwood, September 13, 1923 (deceased). Married second, Jane Kellogg Sturdy, February 12, 1970. Children: Alton, John Lockwood, Mims Gage, Isabel.