The Ochsner Legacy

Abstract

One of the iconic families in American surgery is the Ochsners. The youngest son of Swiss immigrants, Henry Ochsner (1877–1902) was the first to enter the medical profession. His promising internship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital ended when he died of cholera, a tragedy deeply felt by his mentor William Osler. On another branch of the family tree, Albert Ochsner (1858–1925) wrote authoritative textbooks on surgery and became president of the ACS and the American Surgical Association. His most significant achievement may have been his mentorship of his cousin's son Alton (1896–1981), guiding his medical education and training in surgery. The younger Ochsner succeeded Rudolph Matas as chair of surgery at Tulane University at the age of only 31 years. Under his leadership, Charity Hospital in New Orleans became a leading program for surgical training and Tulane earned a reputation for clinical excellence. Ochsner and four partners from the Tulane faculty created a multidisciplinary clinic to attract patients from a wider area, a facility that would become today's Ochsner Clinic. His son John (1927–2018) followed him in the profession and received specialty training in cardiovascular surgery under Michael DeBakey in Houston, a Tulane graduate and an Ochsner trainee. John Ochsner returned to the Ochsner Clinic to establish a major cardiothoracic and vascular surgery program. Further generations of the Ochsner family continued the family legacy in surgery and medicine, exemplified by M. Gage Ochsner (1954–2013), Alton's grandson and John's nephew, who became a leading traumatologist and surgical educator in Savannah.