Tribute to Salvatore L. Nigro

Salvatore L. Nigro had trained with Willis J. Potts at the Children's Hospital in Chicago before he continued his residency with William E. Adams at the University of Chicago.  With the University of Chicago Group, he investigated lung transplantation and showed that a single reimplanted lung could sustain life [1].  He then practiced General Thoracic Surgery in the Western Suburbs of Chicago, and he remained my life-long friend. I was fortunate to visit with him shortly before his death. Sal's son, John J. Nigro, had his residency with Vaughn A. Starnes, and his faculty, at the University of Southern California. John now practices Cardiac Surgery for children and adults in Phoenix.

John R. Benfield, MD
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA 
Los Angeles, CA  United States

1. Nigro, SL, Evans RH, Benfield JR., Gago O, Fry WA, Adams W. Physiologic alterations of cardiopulmonary function in dogs living one and one–half years on only a reimplanted right lung. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1963; 46:598–605.