University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) Original School of Medicine Classroom 7A

Dr. James Hardy and Dr. Arthur Guyton are two of the most distinguished figures to teach and conduct research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Their accomplishments left a major lasting impact on the medical community, ranging from creating textbooks to discoveries in surgery and the human body. Dr. Guyton alone has taught over 150 scientists with 29 of them becoming department chairs and another six becoming presidents of the American Physiological Society. Classroom 7A is where Dr. Guyton and Dr. Hardy (among others) taught medical students for over 30 years. The green walls, desks, and open space in the front row for Dr. Guyton give current students a glimpse of what it was like to be in class 60 years ago. This room is one of the few rooms the hospital chose to keep in its original state.

Lecture Room 7A was home to the medical education achievements of two towering figures in Mississippi medical history: Dr. James Hardy and Dr. Arthur Guyton. Their accomplishments left a major lasting impact on the medical community, ranging from creating textbooks to discoveries in surgery and the workings of the human body. Dr. Guyton alone taught over 150 scientists with 29 of them becoming department chairs and another six becoming presidents of the American Physiological Society. Classroom 7A is where Dr. Guyton and Dr. Hardy taught medical students for over 30 years. The green walls, desks, and open space in the front row for Dr. Guyton give current day students a glimpse of what it was like to be in class 60 years ago. This room is one of the few rooms the hospital chose to keep in its original state. 

Dr. James Hardy was a pioneering surgeon and scientist. He is credited with being the first surgeon to perform a lung transplant on a human in 1963. It was an extremely dangerous surgery for the time, medically and morally. His initial “footstep” initiated a deeper dive into research about lung transplantation.[1] Surgical techniques, therapy, and donor and recipient selection has improved over the years. The median for lung transplant survival worldwide is 6.2 years, and the median patients who survive the first year is 8.3 years. The survival median has increased from a median of 4.3 years (1990 to 1998) to 6.5 years (2009 to 2016).[2] 

Not only was Dr. Hardy credited with the first lung transplant, but he also led the first animal to human heart transplant in 1964 and the double lung transplant with the heart still in place in 1987. (The first successful human to human heart transplant was performed three years after Dr. Hardy’s operation by Christiaan Barnard, a South African surgeon.) All these operations were done while Dr. Hardy was Chief of Surgery. He also served as chair of UMMC’s surgery department from 1955 to 1987.[3]

Before coming to UMMC, Dr. Arthur Guyton had plans of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon. During his last year of clinical residency, he was afflicted with polio while visiting family in New Hampshire. He had paralysis in his left arm, right leg, and both shoulders. His desire to be a surgeon ended and his second interest of teaching became his new reality.[4] While recovering in Warm Springs, Georgia, he invented the first motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair was controlled by a joystick and included leg braces, motorized hoists and lifting devices. The motorized wheelchair and lifting devices have increased mobility of people with disabilities.[5]  While serving as an instructor at UMMC, Dr. Guyton was chair of the Department Biophysics and Physiology from 1948 to 1989. Dr. Guyton was also a cardiovascular researcher, physiologist, and author of 40 books, 600 papers, and multiple medical journals. Dr. Guyton’s cardiovascular research led to discoveries in areas such as cardiac output, the mechanisms of edema, and interstitial fluid. His most well-known work is a physiology book based on his own class lectures: Textbook of Medical Physiology. It was released in 1956 and has now been translated in 14 languages and is a required textbook in medical schools worldwide. Guyton’s legacy with students led them to nickname him “The Chief” while his colleagues and peers consider his cardiovascular research the biggest point of his career.[6] 

In the front row of lecture room 7A, a space was left vacant for Dr. Guyton’s wheelchair. When he could, he would walk with his crutches. Dr. Guyton decided to be an instructor after his dream of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon was cut short by his polio diagnosis. He instead put his energy into conducting research about the cardiovascular system and being an educator in Biophysics and Physiology. Teaching was his way of leaving his stamp on the medical community. He told his students that “the pursuit of science and research will always move forward, and we must adapt to our circumstances." 

Lecture Room 7A also symbolizes the achievements of medical education in the context of Mississippi medical education more generally. Before becoming a four-year institution, the University of Mississippi Medical Center was a two-year institution. Students had to complete their medical degrees out of state. Medical education advanced tremendously in the hands of Dr. Hardy, Dr. Guyton, and others of his generation who wanted to make Mississippi a place of intellectual curiosity, scientific competence, and universal compassion for the human body. Medical education has advanced tremendously since the days of Dr. Guyton and Dr. Hardy in Lecture Room 7A. The physical layout and appearance of Lecture Room 7A is both a reminder of what was and proof of how far instruction has come. Drs. Hardy, Guyton and others wanted to leave a lasting impact on medicine, especially in Mississippi, and that impact started in this room with their students, some of whom are current leaders of the University of Medicine Medical Center today.

Sources 

[1]Dabak, Gül, and Ömer Şenbaklavacı. 2016. “History of Lung Transplantation.” Turk Toraks Dergisi /Turkish Thoracic Journal 17 (2): 71–75. doi:10.5578/ttj.17.2.014

[2]Khush KK, Cherikh WS, Chambers DC, et al. The International Thoracic Organ Transplant Registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation: Thirty-fifth Adult Heart Transplantation Report – 2018; Focus Theme: Multiorgan Transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant 2018; 37: 1155–1168.

[3] Jane Metlikovec. 2021. “Led the Way for Heart Transplants.” Herald Sun (Melbourne).

https://millsaps.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=200303061055690196&site=eds-live&scope=site.

 [4] Gopalan, Chaya. 2021. “Benefits behind Barriers in Physiology Education.” Advances in

Physiology Education 45 (1): 31–33. doi:10.1152/advan.00189.2020.

 [5] Kennedy, Adrienne, MA. 2020. “Arthur Guyton (Psychologist).” Salem Press Biographical

Encyclopedia. http://search.ebscohost.com.millsaps.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=125600062&site=eds-live&scope=site.

[6] Kennedy, “Arthur Guyton,” Salem Encyclopedia.

Dabak, Gül, and Ömer Şenbaklavacı. 2016. “History of Lung Transplantation.” Turk Toraks

Dergisi /Turkish Thoracic Journal 17 (2): 71–75. doi:10.5578/ttj.17.2.014.

Gopalan, Chaya. 2021. “Benefits behind Barriers in Physiology Education.” Advances in

Physiology Education 45 (1): 31–33. doi:10.1152/advan.00189.2020.

Jane Metlikovec. 2021. “Led the Way for Heart Transplants.” Herald Sun (Melbourne).

https://millsaps.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=bwh&AN=200303061055690196&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kennedy, Adrienne, MA. 2020. “Arthur Guyton (Psychologist).” Salem Press Biographical

Encyclopedia. http://search.ebscohost.com.millsaps.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx? direct=true&db=ers&AN=125600062&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Khush KK, Cherikh WS, Chambers DC, et al. The International Thoracic Organ Transplant

Registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation: Thirty-fifth Adult Heart Transplantation Report – 2018; Focus Theme: Multiorgan Transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant 2018; 37: 1155–1168. doi:10.1016/j.healun.2018.07.022