Lillehei, C(larence) Walton (1918– )

US surgeon. His advances in cardiac surgery include codevelopment of the disposable bubble oxygenator (1955), for which he is dubbed ‘father of open heart surgery’.

Lillehei was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended West High School in Minneapolis and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1939, University of Minnesota Medical School in 1942, and University of Minnesota Graduate School in 1951 (his studies were disrupted by army service). He commanded a mobile army surgical hospital during World War II for three campaigns (1941–44), then returned to the University of Minnesota, where he was professor of surgery (1956–67). He also spent eight years at the Cornell Medical Center (1967–75), returning again to Minnesota.