Legendary Thoracic Surgeon Stars in New Children’s Book

Nina Starr Braunwald, who designed, created, and implanted the first successful artificial human mitral heart valve, is now immortalized in a format to inspire budding surgeons of every age—in an illustrated, education-rich book by STS Past President Joseph A. Dearani, MD.  

“Nina Braunwald taught me basic vascular surgery when I was doing a 2-year research fellowship at Harvard Medical School,” recalled Dr. Dearani, who serves as Director of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Surgery at the Mayo Clinic and Professor of Surgery in the Mayo College of Medicine. “She was so devoted to teaching and very, very smart—high-IQ and high-EQ.”

The book, titled Surgeon with a Heart: Meet Dr. Nina Starr Braunwald, the First Woman Heart Surgeon, follows a presentation style similar to those of the “Who Was . . .?” series by publisher Who HQ. But Dr. Dearani wanted to add more opportunities for learning within the inspiring memoir.

“In addition to the story, there are inserts for educational information,” he explained. “For example, when we state that Dr. Braunwald was born in Brooklyn, New York during the Great Depression, there is a sidebar, ‘What was the Great Depression?’ And ‘What is a heart surgeon?’ ‘What is a cardiologist?’ She was in the American Society of Amateur Microscopers when she was only 14—‘What is a microscope?’ These little educational vignettes are written for fourth/fifth/sixth-grade schoolers, and the reader is informed at the same time they’re reading the Nina story.”

Dr. Dearani recalls several personal and professional connections that made the project seem like a calling—his own father was born in the same year as Dr. Nina Braunwald, and he was a student at Georgetown Medical School while Dr. Braunwald was engaged in her postdoctoral fellowship there. While serving with the TSF Board of Directors, the younger Dr. Dearani witnessed the dedication of Dr. Nina Braunwald’s husband, world-renowned Austrian-born cardiologist Dr. Eugene Braunwald.

“Eugene Braunwald is an icon, one of the godfathers of modern-day cardiology, and he’s donated more than $2.5 million in Nina’s honor,” Dr. Dearani said. “He was proud that she was a woman who prevailed in a ‘man’s world’ back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when the specialty had essentially no women, and he’s made it very clear that he does not want her to be forgotten.”

That donation manifests in the TSF Nina Starr Braunwald Research Fellowship Award, open to early-career cardiothoracic women surgeons to support up to 2 years of laboratory research. The award is regarded as one of the specialty’s most prestigious research fellowships.

“Today, the world of heart surgery is still a challenging place for women,” reads the book’s description, “but thanks to stories like Dr. Nina’s, more and more young girls are dreaming of becoming heart surgeons. Dr. Nina’s legacy lives on, not just in the memories of her incredible accomplishments but in every young girl who picks up a stethoscope and decides to follow in Dr. Nina’s groundbreaking footsteps.”

Illustration and design for the book are provided by Rade and Marko Marković of 5mediadesign, and editorial services by Sandra Wendel of Write On, Inc.

Until her death in August 1992, Dr. Nina Braunwald’s career glimmered with countless “firsts”—among them, she was the first woman to be certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and the first to be elected to the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. But in a field where “firsts” for women are often appended with woman, Dr. Nina Braunwald stands out among her peers of any gender. In 1960, she performed the first successful implantation of a mitral valve prosthesis of her own design. She’s the Braunwald in the mechanical Braunwald-Cutter valve that benefited thousands of patients in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. She developed a human stented aortic homograft technique, and she pioneered the use of tissue cultures to stave off clots associated with valve prosthetics and circulatory assist devices. Life and Time magazines featured her among the United States’ “young movers and shakers.”

Surgeon with a Heart, now available on Amazon, is a many-fold gift to the field of cardiothoracic surgery. It’s testament of solidarity among the physicians Dr. Nina helped to succeed.  It’s an insightful read for young people considering a career in the field—and the book’s proceeds are intended to benefit the TSF, providing much-needed funding to the researchers of future generations.

“I have eight sisters, and five of them are teachers at the grade-school level,” Dr. Dearani said. “They suggested writing a children's book to inspire young girls to explore a field as challenging and rewarding as cardiac surgery.”

Purchase the book for yourself and the aspiring surgeons in your life, learn more about the fellowship established in Dr. Nina Braunwald’s honor, and explore her legacy within The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

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