Brief Chronology

  • 1909 --Born June 16 in St. Paul, MN, to Warren and Clara Dennis
  • 1931 --Received BS from Harvard University (Magna cum laude)
  • 1935 --Received MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
  • 1935-36 --Surgical internship at University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, MN
  • 1936-37 --Fellowship in surgery at University of Minnesota Hospitals
  • 1937 --Research Assistant to Dr. Owen Wangensteen
  • 1938 --Fellowship in Physiology, University of Minnesota; received MS in Physiology
  • 1938-39 --Instructor, Department of Physiology, University of Minnesota
  • 1939 --Married Eleanor Smith
  • July 1939-June 1940 --Fellow in Surgery, University of Minnesota Hospitals; received PhD in Surgery, University of Minnesota
  • June-December 1940 --Fellow in Surgery and Instructor in Surgery, University of Minnesota
  • 1941-44 --Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota
  • September 1944-July 1947 --Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota
  • 1946 --Began work on heart-lung machine
  • January 1947-July 1951 --Attending Surgeon and Administrative Head of Surgery, Minneapolis General Hospital
  • July 1947-August 1951 --Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota
  • 1951-52 --Professor, Department of Surgery, Downstate Medical Center, SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn, NY
  • April 1951 --Performed first open-heart surgery using heart-lung machine
  • September 1951-June 1959 --Director of Surgery and Surgical Specialities, Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, NY
  • 1952-February 1972 --Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery, Downstate Medical Center
  • 1955 --Performed his first successful open-heart surgery using heart-lung machine
  • July 1959-February 1972 --Surgeon-in-Chief, Kings County Hospital
  • October 1966-February 1972 --Surgeon-in-Chief, State University Hospital, Brooklyn, NY
  • March 1972-October 1973 --Director, Division of Technological Applications, National Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
  • October 1973-December 1974 --Special Assistant for Technology, Office of the Director, National Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
  • December 1974-May 1988 --Professor of Surgery, SUNY at Stony Brook
  • January 1975-December 1989 --Staff Surgeon, VA Medical Center, Northport, NY
  • September 1975-June 1988 --Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development, VA Medical Center, Northport, NY
  • 1977 --Married Mary Mott
  • March 1991-January 1996 --Director, Cancer Detection Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2005 --Died July 11 in St. Paul, MN