Elliott Cutler
Encyclopedia
Brigadier General
Elliot Carr Cutler CB
, OBE
, FRCS
, MD, FACS
(July 30, 1888 – August 16, 1947) was an American
surgeon and medical educator. He was Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School
, Surgeon-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital from 1932 to 1947., and a Brigadier General
in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.
. He was the son of George Chalmers Cutler and Mary Franklin Wilson. His father was a lumber merchant. He was named for his maternal grandmother, Mary Elliot Carr (d. 1869), who belonged to a prominent political and mercantile family in Bangor (see Francis Carr). The Carr-Wing House remains a local landmark.
Cutler studied at Harvard College
and graduated with an AB degree in 1909. After completing his A.B.
, he studied at Harvard Medical School
(HMS) and received his M.D.
cum laude in 1913, graduating first in his class. He studied pathology with Frank Mallory at the Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center
) during his fourth year at HMS. He was subsequently awarded the John Harvard Fellowship. He was also elected permanent class president.
After completing his graduation, he spent five months in Europe
, mostly in London
and at the University of Heidelberg in Germany
, where he studied pathology
with Ludolf von Krehl
.
) in Boston, Massachusetts. He joined the Harvard Unit of the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris
, France
in 1915. He declined the invitation by William S. Halsted to run the Hunterian Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University
in 1916. He studied immunity at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
The United States entered the World War I
in 1917. This prompted Cutler to return to France as a captain in the Army Medical Corps assigned to the Harvard Unit, Base Hospital Number 5. He returned to Boston after the end of the war. He joined the Brigham Hospital as resident surgeon. He married Caroline Pollard Parker in the spring of 1919. They had five children.
Cutler was an associate in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and also directed Harvard surgical research laboratory from 1921-23. In 1923 he performed the world’s first successful heart valve
surgery. The patient was a 12-year-old girl with rheumatic mitral stenosis
who underwent mitral valve repair
. This surgery was hailed as a milestone by the British Medical Journal. It proved to have a mortality rate of 90 percent and it was abandoned by Cutler in 1928. Surgical repair for mitral valve stenosis was not reattempted until 1945.
Cutler left Harvard Medical School in 1924 to become professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
and director of surgery at the Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio
, where he continued his laboratory work. In 1932 he succeeded Harvey Cushing as Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Surgeon-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He held those two positions until his death in 1947.
At the outbreak of the World War II
, the Governor of Massachusetts appointed Cutler as medical director of the state committee on public safety. He was again called into active service in the Army Medical Corps in 1942, and was named Chief Consultant in Surgery in the European Theater of Operations. Together with Dr. William Shainline Middleton
, who was the Chief Consultant in Medicine, Dr. Cutler structured the system of care for injured and sick U.S. soldiers. Later, he served as chief of the professional services division in the office of the surgeon general in Europe. As chief surgical consultant, he played an important role in obtaining blood from the U.S. for use in treating the wounded. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General (O7) in 1945.
Cutler published papers extensively throughout his career about thyroidectomy
, thoracotomy
, cardiotomy, and mitral valvulotomy. He was also the co-author of the 1939 book The Atlas of Surgery with Dr. Robert M. Zollinger. The book remained a standard surgery textbook throughout the 20th century.
Cutler was a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 1927 to 1932. He was President of the Associated Harvard Clubs from 1936 to 1937 and President of the Harvard Alumni Association from 1939 to 1940. Outside of Harvard, Cutler was a member or officer of several medical and scientific organizations, including the American Surgical Association (President, 1947), the American College of Surgeons (fellow), the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Society for Clinical Surgery (President, 1941–46).
Cutler also served on the editorial boards of several professional publications, including the American Heart Journal, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Surgery, the American Journal of Surgery, and the British Journal of Surgery. He was a founder of the American Board of Surgery and the Society for Consultants to the Surgeons General of the Armed Forces of the United States. He was also elected a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Rome
, Italy
and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
in Britain
.
.
for his military service in the First World War. For his contributions to military medicine in the Second World War, he received a second Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit
from the United States War Department, the Order of the British Empire
by King George VI of Britain
, the Croix de Guerre
by the French government, the Companion of the Order of the Bath
, and Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
. In June 1947, he received the prestigious Henry Jacob Bigelow Medal of the Boston Surgical Society for his accomplishments in surgery. The Harvard Medical School established a professorship of surgery in Cutler's name in 1965.
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
Elliot Carr Cutler CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, FRCS
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...
, MD, FACS
American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.-Membership:...
(July 30, 1888 – August 16, 1947) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
surgeon and medical educator. He was Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
, Surgeon-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital from 1932 to 1947., and a Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.
Early life
Cutler was born on July 30, 1888 in Bangor, MaineBangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
. He was the son of George Chalmers Cutler and Mary Franklin Wilson. His father was a lumber merchant. He was named for his maternal grandmother, Mary Elliot Carr (d. 1869), who belonged to a prominent political and mercantile family in Bangor (see Francis Carr). The Carr-Wing House remains a local landmark.
Cutler studied at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
and graduated with an AB degree in 1909. After completing his A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, he studied at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
(HMS) and received his M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
cum laude in 1913, graduating first in his class. He studied pathology with Frank Mallory at the Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center is a non-profit 639 licensed-bed medical center in Boston, Massachusetts. It was created by the formal merger of Boston City Hospital which was the first municipal hospital in the United States and Boston University Medical Center Hospital in July 1996 which was sponsored...
) during his fourth year at HMS. He was subsequently awarded the John Harvard Fellowship. He was also elected permanent class president.
After completing his graduation, he spent five months in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, mostly in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and at the University of Heidelberg in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he studied pathology
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
with Ludolf von Krehl
Ludolf von Krehl
Albrecht Ludolf von Krehl was a German internist and physiologist who was a native of Leipzig. He was the son of Orientalist Christoph Krehl...
.
Career
After returning from Germany, he served as surgical intern at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women's HospitalBrigham and Women's Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital is the largest hospital of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate with 793 beds...
) in Boston, Massachusetts. He joined the Harvard Unit of the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1915. He declined the invitation by William S. Halsted to run the Hunterian Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in 1916. He studied immunity at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
The United States entered the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1917. This prompted Cutler to return to France as a captain in the Army Medical Corps assigned to the Harvard Unit, Base Hospital Number 5. He returned to Boston after the end of the war. He joined the Brigham Hospital as resident surgeon. He married Caroline Pollard Parker in the spring of 1919. They had five children.
Cutler was an associate in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and also directed Harvard surgical research laboratory from 1921-23. In 1923 he performed the world’s first successful heart valve
Heart valve
A heart valve normally allows blood flow in only one direction through the heart. The four valves commonly represented in a mammalian heart determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart...
surgery. The patient was a 12-year-old girl with rheumatic mitral stenosis
Mitral stenosis
Mitral stenosis is a valvular heart disease characterized by the narrowing of the orifice of the mitral valve of the heart.-Signs and symptoms:Symptoms of mitral stenosis include:...
who underwent mitral valve repair
Mitral valve repair
Mitral valve repair is a cardiac surgery procedure performed by cardiac surgeons to treat stenosis or regurgitation of the mitral valve. The mitral valve is the "inflow valve" for the left side of the heart. Blood flows from the lungs, where it picks up oxygen, through the pulmonary veins, to the...
. This surgery was hailed as a milestone by the British Medical Journal. It proved to have a mortality rate of 90 percent and it was abandoned by Cutler in 1928. Surgical repair for mitral valve stenosis was not reattempted until 1945.
Cutler left Harvard Medical School in 1924 to become professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine is one of the graduate schools of Case Western Reserve University, and is located in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. The School of Medicine is among the top 25 medical schools in America and is the top-ranked medical school of Ohio in...
and director of surgery at the Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, where he continued his laboratory work. In 1932 he succeeded Harvey Cushing as Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Surgeon-in-Chief at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He held those two positions until his death in 1947.
At the outbreak of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Governor of Massachusetts appointed Cutler as medical director of the state committee on public safety. He was again called into active service in the Army Medical Corps in 1942, and was named Chief Consultant in Surgery in the European Theater of Operations. Together with Dr. William Shainline Middleton
William Shainline Middleton
William Shainline Middleton, M.D., M.A.C.P. was a prestigious American internist. He was one of the founders of the American Board of Internal Medicine and its first Secretary-Treasurer...
, who was the Chief Consultant in Medicine, Dr. Cutler structured the system of care for injured and sick U.S. soldiers. Later, he served as chief of the professional services division in the office of the surgeon general in Europe. As chief surgical consultant, he played an important role in obtaining blood from the U.S. for use in treating the wounded. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General (O7) in 1945.
Cutler published papers extensively throughout his career about thyroidectomy
Thyroidectomy
A thyroidectomy is an operation that involves the surgical removal of all or part of the thyroid gland. Surgeons often perform a thyroidectomy when a patient has thyroid cancer or some other condition of the thyroid gland...
, thoracotomy
Thoracotomy
Thoracotomy is an incision into the pleural space of the chest. It is performed by a surgeon, and, rarely, by emergency physicians, to gain access to the thoracic organs, most commonly the heart, the lungs, the esophagus or thoracic aorta, or for access to the anterior spine such as is necessary...
, cardiotomy, and mitral valvulotomy. He was also the co-author of the 1939 book The Atlas of Surgery with Dr. Robert M. Zollinger. The book remained a standard surgery textbook throughout the 20th century.
Cutler was a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 1927 to 1932. He was President of the Associated Harvard Clubs from 1936 to 1937 and President of the Harvard Alumni Association from 1939 to 1940. Outside of Harvard, Cutler was a member or officer of several medical and scientific organizations, including the American Surgical Association (President, 1947), the American College of Surgeons (fellow), the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Society for Clinical Surgery (President, 1941–46).
Cutler also served on the editorial boards of several professional publications, including the American Heart Journal, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Surgery, the American Journal of Surgery, and the British Journal of Surgery. He was a founder of the American Board of Surgery and the Society for Consultants to the Surgeons General of the Armed Forces of the United States. He was also elected a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...
in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Later years & Death
The later years of Cutler's life were primarily devoted to surgical practice, teaching, and research at Harvard Medical School. On August 16, 1947, he died from prostate cancer at age 59 in Brookline, MassachusettsBrookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
.
Honors and awards
In April 1922, Cutler received the Distinguished Service MedalDistinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...
for his military service in the First World War. For his contributions to military medicine in the Second World War, he received a second Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
from the United States War Department, the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
by King George VI of Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
by the French government, the Companion of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, and Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. In June 1947, he received the prestigious Henry Jacob Bigelow Medal of the Boston Surgical Society for his accomplishments in surgery. The Harvard Medical School established a professorship of surgery in Cutler's name in 1965.
External links
- The Elliott Carr Cutler papers can be found at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School.
- visit the educational website www.themitralvalve.org