Born in Zevenaar, the Netherlands, in 1925, he survived the Holocaust by hiding for almost three years on a remote farm where he worked with farm animals and performed the other farm chores. After the German defeat he studied medicine in Utrecht. Upon finishing medical school he worked for a year and a half as a surgical resident in the USA (1952-53). Upon his return to Holland in 1955 he obtained his DSc degree from Nijmegen University after investigating the anatomy and pathology of the liver. He trained in surgery and biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, where he also obtained his PhD degree. During his training he met his wife, Mary Ann, a student nurse from Fargo, ND in the operating room. They were married in 1958 shortly after she graduated from nursing school.
As a Fellow of the American Board of Surgeons he served on the faculties of the Surgery Departments of the Univ of Minnesota(1961-68), Cornell University Medical College(1968-77) and the University of Illinois (in Urbana/Champaign,1977-83). As a professor of surgery, pathology and biochemistry he helped start the new medical school at the latter institution on its main campus that admitted in 1979 its first 24 medical students and where he created a new research establishment in an old VA Building. He retired after the third medical school class graduated.
As a Fellow of the American Board of Surgeons he served on the faculties of the Surgery Departments of the Univ of Minnesota(1961-68), Cornell University Medical College(1968-77) and the University of Illinois (in Urbana/Champaign,1977-83). As a professor of surgery, pathology and biochemistry he helped start the new medical school at the latter institution on its main campus that admitted in 1979 its first 24 medical students and where he created a new research establishment in an old VA Building. He retired after the third medical school class graduated.
His involvement in medical research resulted in a study of the anatomy of the liver that served as a foundation for contemporary liver surgery. Subsequently, he investigated the differences between acute hepatic failure (post one stage total hepatectomy in dogs and monkeys) and chronic hepatic failure (in liver cirrhosis).He also studied the effect of endotoxin, anaphylaxis and extra-corporeal circulation (clinical open heart surgery) on hemostasis. The latter research earned him a NIH Research Career Development Award. In 1969 as an early liver transplant surgeon he performed the first two clinical split-liver transplantations at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. Shortly thereafter further transplantation was temporarily suspended because of the limitations imposed by organ rejection.
He and his wife became avid collectors of rare books, and subsequently also of American art, Art Glass, Americana, Federal furniture, and Pre-Columbian Artifacts. As a result his wife, Mary Ann Gans, started A CERTAIN AMBIANCE in 1978 a business that dealt in Art and Antiques in Illinois, New York and that is still active in Stuart, Florida.
Besides two medical texts: Introduction into Hepatic Surgery, Elsevier, Amsterdam, London, Dallas and Toronto, 1955, and a monograph, in the Current Problems in Surgery Series, Hemostasis and the Surgical Patient. Yearbook Publisher, Chicago, 1969, and his research and clinical papers, he wrote, during his retirement, a book of stories: Stories my Mother Never Told Me, Trafford Publ, Victoria BC, Oxford UK, 2007 and a trilogy: The Holocaust Legacy Trilogy, Vol I: Tangled Lives, Vol II: Trivial Pursuit, and Vol III: Caveat Emptor. Trafford Publishing, 2007.
In his retirement he enjoys cooking, travel, reading, gardening, swimming, attending auctions and art and craft shows. A more detailed summary of his major research activities appears below.
A Brief Review of Some Early Contributions to Liver Surgery
Fifty Years Ago
The Rational Correlation of Evidence
Liver Surgery Revisited
The Proper Attribution of Merit
Nekrassoff, the Metal Smith
A thank you to an old Dutch farmer
Are Collector and Researchers Driven by a Common Impulse
He and his wife became avid collectors of rare books, and subsequently also of American art, Art Glass, Americana, Federal furniture, and Pre-Columbian Artifacts. As a result his wife, Mary Ann Gans, started A CERTAIN AMBIANCE in 1978 a business that dealt in Art and Antiques in Illinois, New York and that is still active in Stuart, Florida.
Besides two medical texts: Introduction into Hepatic Surgery, Elsevier, Amsterdam, London, Dallas and Toronto, 1955, and a monograph, in the Current Problems in Surgery Series, Hemostasis and the Surgical Patient. Yearbook Publisher, Chicago, 1969, and his research and clinical papers, he wrote, during his retirement, a book of stories: Stories my Mother Never Told Me, Trafford Publ, Victoria BC, Oxford UK, 2007 and a trilogy: The Holocaust Legacy Trilogy, Vol I: Tangled Lives, Vol II: Trivial Pursuit, and Vol III: Caveat Emptor. Trafford Publishing, 2007.
In his retirement he enjoys cooking, travel, reading, gardening, swimming, attending auctions and art and craft shows. A more detailed summary of his major research activities appears below.
A Brief Review of Some Early Contributions to Liver Surgery
Fifty Years Ago
The Rational Correlation of Evidence
Liver Surgery Revisited
The Proper Attribution of Merit
Nekrassoff, the Metal Smith
A thank you to an old Dutch farmer
Are Collector and Researchers Driven by a Common Impulse