Blalock, Alfred (1899-1964)

US surgeon and educator. From 1925 to 1941 Blalock was head of the surgery department at Vanderbilt University's school of medicine. In 1928-30 he conducted experiments to establish that shock was the result of drastic loss of blood from the vascular system, leading to the practice of treating wounded soldiers with blood substitutes and plasma. In 1941 he performed the first total removal of the thymus gland.