Welcome to the Pioneers and Notables Video Archive
Here you will find videos of perfusion's greatest foreunners and instrumental leaders.
Diane Clark: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 2/1/2012
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Diane Clark got into the field by chance just when the Texas Heart Institute was becoming the epicenter of cardiac surgery in the early 1970s. Prior to becoming a perfusionist, shehad obtained a degree in theology, but quickly mastered the coagulation cascade and all other aspects of perfusion. She was a skilled educator and mentor to hundreds of practicing perfusionists and was co-author of the first widely used textbook, “Cardiopulmonary Perfusion”, which was written with Charles Reed in just six months. She was the recipient of the AmSECT Polystan education and travel awards. Diane was a former Director and served as the Executive Director of the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion. Diane briefly embarked on a mid-career change in the 1980s to become a hospital administrator, but perfusion beckoned her back where she practiced with distinction and to the benefit of uncountable patients for over four decades.
Terry Crane: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 6/6/2024
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Terry N. Crane, like many who became clinical perfusionists in the 1970s, started out as a laboratory technician. He graduated from the six-month perfusion technology program at the Texas Heart Institute (THI), which in the 1970s was the largest center performing open heart surgery. Students would conduct two or three cases a day, including many pediatric patients. Students had didactic lectures from cardiac anesthesiologists as well a perfusion staff. Major technological changes he saw included the transition from non-disposable components to disposables, centrifugal pumps replacing roller pumps, and the ubiquitous use of pre bypass filtration of the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit. He mentored approximately 1,000 perfusionists during his years at THI, first as Associate Clinical Director and eventually the Program Director. He spent some years in industry, where new products to improve the delivery of cardiopulmonary bypass were brought to the market. He considered the best part of his perfusion career to be teaching others.
William DeBois: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 3/23/2024
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William DeBois pursued a different career path than banking as had been a family tradition—he did laboratory research despite having an undergraduate degree in economics. North Shore University Hospital had a cardiorespiratory sciences program, and he was able to work in the animal laboratory, which evolved into specialty work in perfusion. After one year being preceptored in perfusion technology at Stony Brook University, he worked as a staff clinical perfusionist and eventually became Chief Perfusionist at Maimonides Medical Center. He participated in research on cardioplegia, which was a major improvement during cardiac surgery in the 1980s. He then took the chief’s job at a much busier program at New York Hospital-Cornell Weill that expanded to include two other hospitals where he and his team were responsible for more than 60,000 cases over three decades. During that time, he perfected blood conservation techniques that significantly decreased blood transfusion rates. He obtained an MBA, which has proved invaluable in his current role as a hospital administrator. Bill was active in AmSECT leadership roles as Chair of the Conference Planning Committee and serving as President 2018-2020.
Jay Briscoe (J.B.) Denman: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 1/20/2012
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Jay Briscoe (J.B.) Denman was a Clinical Perfusionist for more than 50 years and began working in 1959 after serving in the Marines. Like many of that era, he first worked in the research laboratory and shared responsibilities for operating the heart-lung machine with surgeons in training. Prior to the disposable supply years, he used a Sigmamotor pump and disc oxygenator and had to hand-cut sections of tubing before each case because custom tubing packs were non-existent. He trained some perfusionists on-the-job before the adoption of accredited educational programs in the early 1980s. He was President-Elect for AmSECT but never became President because of some political infighting over the direction the society was to follow, but J.B. remained supportive of the importance of professional involvement.
Gary Grist: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Al Stammers 1/13/2025
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Gary Grist RN CCP Emeritus was a perfusionist from 1968 through 2014 when he retired from clinical practice. His career covered over four and one-half decades when the evolution of extracorporeal circulation saw many advances beginning with the change from laborious stainless steel and glass oxygenators used exclusively in the OR for heart surgery to portable ECMO pumps used at the patient’s bedside in the ICU for a wide variety of cardiac, respiratory and septic diseases. Most of his career was spent as a pediatric perfusionist. Over the years, he became an educator, lecturer, researcher, and skeptic, always questioning accepted dogma in perfusion practice, knowing there was more to perfusion physiology than the textbooks offered. He noticed that some patients died when perfusion physiology said they should have lived. And some patients lived when they should have died. He felt that some unknown factor was missing from the perfusion knowledge base. Then, in 1990, he had an epiphany when he discovered August Krogh’s oxygen pressure field theory (OPFT). He focused his research in that area. He was also an outspoken advocate for increasing perfusion safety.
Aaron Hill: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 4/14/2015
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Aaron G. Hill began his perfusion career after first working as a chemist for Eastman Kodak while simultaneously trying to be a farmer in upstate New York. He was the first Chair of AmSECT’s Standards Committee and a member of the Continuing Education Committee. He was a former Director and Vice President of the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion. He was a gifted leader, prolific presenter, and accomplished author. Aaron was incomparable, irrepressible, and a person of strong conviction who never said, “No” when asked to participate at the local, national, and international levels. He was a trend-setter who spoke with authority few could ignore and was known to everyone in the field for his engaging personality and great sense of humor.
Mark Kurusz: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Dave Fitzgerald 4/16/2015
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Mark Kurusz accepted a position as an orderly at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in 1971 after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English. Dennis Williams, the chief pump technician, trained him on-the-job to operate the heart-lung machine. Mark has distinguished himself as a clinician, researcher, and leader of international renown. He received the AmSECT Fellowship Award in 1975 for his first presentation of scanning electron micrographs of blood surfaces of the CPB circuit. His interest in patient safety prompted him to conduct and collaborate on national surveys related to CPB, pediatric perfusion, and ECMO. He is a former Director and Vice President of the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion and was a member of the AmSECT Perfusion Quality Committee. He served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of ExtraCorporeal Technology and Perfusion. Mark’s editorial contributions to the field are unsurpassed.
Greg Mork: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 3/23/2024
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Greg Mork, by his own admission, “stumbled into perfusion” in the late 1970s at Mt. Sinai in Chicago. This was the era of no custom tubing packs and other cardiopulmonary bypass devices taken for granted today. After training, he first worked at Cook County Hospital before moving over to Rush University, which had an active pediatric cardiac surgery program. He was mentored by AmSECT leaders to become more involved in the profession. This led to him serving on the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion, first as a Director then as its President when important policies were enacted. In his role as Chief Perfusionist, he experienced all the major technological and administrative changes such as ventricular assist, ECMO, perfusion simulation, and state licensure. He will be serving as AmSECT president in the coming years.
Guy Prater: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 1/20/2012
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Guy H. Prater was like many of the pioneers who came to perfusion from a nursing background—he first worked in the animal research laboratory at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and then as a Clinical Perfusionist. He had many roles in the early years of AmSECT, which included being Regional Representative to the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Credentials Committee for the first AmSECT certification examinations, member of the Continuing Education Subcommittee, and local arrangements Chair for the AmSECT conference in 1974. He also served as Editor of the AmSECT Newsletter in the mid-1970s. Guy found an outlet for his creative streak outside the operating room by painting and creating sculptures—he designed the original AmSECT Award of Excellence that depicts a life-like model of the heart. Guy was always a warm, modest, and friendly person who gave much to the profession in its formative years. He personified the AmSECT volunteer who worked for the betterment of the profession.
Skip Russell: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 4/16/2015
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Marion “Skip” Russell started his career in healthcare as a Respiratory Therapist in Kansas City in the early 1970s. When an opportunity arose to train on-the-job as a clinical perfusionist, he took it. Part of his training was to visit and observe open-heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He returned to Kansas City and was employed in that busy program for nearly 40 years before retiring. As with many who worked during the so-called golden years of perfusion, he became adept at managing ventricular assist devices, ECMO, and was an earlier adopter of the electronic perfusion record. He also was instrumental in establishing state licensure for perfusionists in Missouri.
Calvin Scott: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 1/24/2012
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Calvin R. Scott was a veteran of World War II who saw action in France shortly after the D-Day invasion. Like many of the early pioneers, he aspired to go to medical school, but when this was not realized, he became a laboratory technician at Fort Benning, Georgia. In the 1950s, he transferred to the VA Hospital in Los Angeles where he got involved in perfusion. He was one of the first Directors of the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion and former President of AmSECT. Calvin was the consummate gentleman to all he met and a loyal friend to many. He steadfastly guided and maintained AmSECT on its fundamental mission of education during challenging times for the profession in the late 1970s for which he is owed a tremendous debt of gratitude.
Joseph Sistino: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 4/16/2015
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Joseph Sistino first learned about perfusion in 1970 while in high school when he wrote a paper about open-heart surgery. During his college years, he enrolled in a cardiorespiratory program, which had a segment devoted to perfusion. He first worked as a Respiratory Therapist after graduation but was able to be trained-on-the-job in perfusion like many perfusionists of that era. He soon became a Chief Perfusionist and trained many others before the 1981 deadline mandating formal education for board eligibility to become certified. He worked at a large program in New York City before moving to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) where Jeffrey Riley was the program director and a strong professional influence. Joe eventually became the director of that program, earning a PhD in the process. His research interests included blood conservation and neurological outcomes in neonates. The MUSC program was one of the first to adopt simulation training, and Joe was responsible for mentoring approximately 350 students before his retirement.
Greg Vocelka: Perfusion Pioneer Video
Interview by Mark Kurusz 4/16/2015
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Craig R. Vocelka, like many who became clinical perfusionists, was first a Respiratory Therapist. He worked in Houston in the early 1970s and, after two tries, was accepted into the Texas Heart Institute (THI) perfusion training program under the tutelage of Charles Reed, Diane Clark, and Terry Crane. After completing his training, he remained on staff at THI before getting jobs in other hospitals and later becoming the Chief Perfusionist for 30 years at the University of Washington. The program had a large staff and was responsible for ECMO in addition to providing perfusion for a notable adult congenital cardiac surgery program. Craig served many leadership roles within AmSECT and was President twice—in1994 and 2000. He found teaching one of the most rewarding aspects of his long and distinguished career.