Scholarly Publications Authored by Vivien Thomas

The Eight Scholarly Publications of Vivien Thomas in Chronological Order

1. “An Apparatus for Anesthesia in Experimental Thoracic Surgery.” C. Rollins Hanlon, Thomas N. P. Johns, and Vivien Thomas, J of Thoracic Surgery, 19(6):887, June 1950.
2. “The Experimental Reversal of the Capillary Blood Flow.” Raymond Heimbecker, Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock, Circulation, 4:116, July 1951.
3. “The Experimental Production of High Interventricular Septal Defects.” Jerome H. Kay, Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock, Surgery, Gyn and Ob, 96: 529, May 1953.
4. “Experimental Production of Pulmonary Insufficiency.” Jerome Kay and Vivien Thomas, Arch Sur, 69: 646, November 1954.
5. “Experimental Production of Pulmonary Stenosis; Physiological and Pathological Study.” Jerome Kay and Vivien Thomas, AMA Arch Surg, 69: pp. 651-656.
6. “Replacement of a Tricuspid Valve Cusp in Dogs.” Alan Pollock and Vivien Thomas, Surgery, Gyn and Ob, 103: 731, Dec. 1956.
7. “The Use of Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose as a Hemostatic Agent in Dogs.” Joseph Miller and Vivien Thomas, Exp Med Surg, 19: pp. 192-195, 1961.
8. “Tetralogy of Fallot in Cats.” Mitchell Bush, Daniel Pieroni, Dawn G. Goodman, Robert I. White, Vivian (sic) Thomas and A. Everett James, J of the Am. Veterinary Med. Assoc., 1972 Dec. 15; 161(12): 1679-86.

Beginning in 1930 and ending in February 1964, when Blalock retired, Vivien Thomas had carried out the great majority of Dr. Blalock’s surgical research experiments in the laboratory. After Thomas completed the work, he’d give Blalock his lab notes so Blalock could write an article for a medical journal. Typically, the surgeon would call Thomas at night to ensure that his written presentation of Thomas’s experiments was accurate. However, in the thirty-four years the two men worked together, Vivien Thomas never attained second authorship credit from Blalock. The only reason that Vivien Thomas was listed as co-author on two of Blalock’s papers was that the doctors who worked with Blalock and Thomas on these experiments chose to list Thomas’s name on the ensuing articles.

There was no good reason for not crediting Thomas. For example, Blalock’s best friend, Dr. Tinsley Harrison, another Hopkins-trained surgeon, in the 1930s listed his Vanderbilt lab tech who, like Thomas, only had a high school diploma, as a co-author on the article which resulted from their research. Current publication guidelines indicate that Thomas deserved to be a co-author, or at least be listed as a contributor, on nearly all of Blalock’s several hundred articles and papers. Shown here is a list of the eight publications that did credit Vivien Thomas for his work.