In Pursuit of Precision - University of Alabama at Birmingham

From the Archives
By Tim L. Pennycuff
The Alabama Medical Alumni Bulletin often examines current or future activities in the School of Medicine.
But in a new feature, “From the Archives,” we look back at key people and events in the school’s history.
Our cover story focuses on innovative uses of computers in surgery; in “From the Archives,” University Archivist
Tim Pennycuff provides insight on a physician who helped build the road leading to the latest advances in surgery.
Champ Lyons, M.D., served as the first full-time
chair of the UASOM (then the University of Alabama
Medical Center) Department of Surgery. Lyons came to
the Medical Center at a time when the surgery department
had only a few full-time faculty members; he
recruited a high-caliber faculty and staff and worked
with other administrators and departmental chairs to
turn the Medical Center into an outstanding teaching
and research institution.
Lyons grew up in Mobile and graduated from the
University of Alabama in 1927. He received his medical
degree in 1931 from Harvard University and completed
an internship and residency at the Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston. He later served as an associate
surgeon at Massachusetts General until accepting
positions at the Ochsner Clinic, Charity Hospital, and
the Tuoro Infirmary in New Orleans.
Lyons gained national recognition for his use of penicillin
to treat burn wounds after a fire at the Coconut
Grove nightclub in Boston. During World War II, he
led one of two penicillin studies sponsored by the U.S.
Army to determine the drug’s effectiveness against surgical
infections. In later years he also gained recognition
for his work in cardiovascular surgery and in the development
of surgical techniques used on victims of
strokes. He was a fellow of the American College of
Surgeons and a member of numerous professional
organizations, including the American Surgical
Association, Southern Surgical Association, American
Medical Association, and International Cardiovascular
Society.
Lyons became the first person to hold an endowed
chair at the Medical Center in 1964, as the Faye
Fletcher Kerner Chair of Surgery. That same year,
Lyons and Tinsley R. Harrison, M.D., were named distinguished
professors, the first such designations awarded
by the University of Alabama. In 1965, Lyons was
named the Medical Center’s second distinguished faculty
lecturer. He served as chief of surgical services in
University Hospital from 1950 until his death in 1965.
Champ Lyons, M.D. (center left), and his
surgical team perform open-heart surgery
in University Hospital, circa 1961.
The patient is attached to a heart-lung
machine during the surgery.
The surgical team monitors the patient’s condition with special equipment used during openheart
surgery, circa 1961. The machine in the center monitored the oxygen levels in the blood,
while the one visible at bottom right recorded the EKG, blood pressure, and venous pressure to
assist in regulation of the heart-lung machine during the surgical procedure.
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