- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Mark Michael Ravitch

Born  1910
Died  1989

Related eponyms

American paediatric surgeon, 1910-1989.

Biography of Mark Michael Ravitch

Mark Michael Ravitch graduated in medicine in 1934 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He then completed a surgical residency with Alfred Blalock (1899-1964) at the Vanderbilt University Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee. Ravitch was known as an expert on the correction of chest-wall deformities in children and as a pioneer in the use of mechanical suturing in surgery.

In 1952, Ravitch became the first full time Chief of Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, a tenure that lasted only 18 months. He was also Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and became Professor of Surgery and director of surgical research at Johns Hopkins.

In 1958, while travelling in. Russia, Ravitch observed the ‘brilliant use of the staple instruments in pulmonary surgery’ and subsequently introduced modern stapling techniques to the USA.

In 1989, at the age of 78, Dr. Ravitch was still teaching students from his hospital bed. He died that year. Dr. Ravitch authored 453 papers, 101 book chapters, 22 books, and served as editor of nearly 20 medical journals. The Mark M. Ravitch Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University is named in his honour.

Bibliography

  • M. M. Ravitch, D. C. Sabiston Jr:
    Anal Ileostomy With Preservation of the Sphincter.
    Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, Chicago, 1947, 84: 1095-1099.
  • Alvin J. Gordon, Eugene Braunwald, Mark M. Ravitch:
    Simultaneous Pressure Pulses in the Human Left Atrium, Ventricle and Aorta: Preliminary Communication.
    Circulation Research, September 1954, 2 (5): 432-433
  • Eugene Braunwald, Howard L. Moscovitz, Salomao S. Amram, Richard P. Lasser, Samuel O. Sapin, Aaron Himmelstein, Mark M. Ravitch, and Alvin J. Gordon:
    Timing of Electrical and Mechanical Events of the Left Side of the Human Heart.
    Journal of Applied Physiology, Washington D.C, 1955, 8: 309-314.
  • Eugene Braunwald, Howard L. Moscovitz, Salomao S. Amram, Richard P. Lasser, Samuel O. Sapin, Aaron Himmelstein, Mark M. Ravitch, and Alvin J. Gordon:
    The Hemodynamics of the Left Side of the Heart as Studied by Simultaneous Left Atrial, Left Ventricular, and Aortic Pressures; Particular Reference to Mitral Stenosis.
    Circulation, July 1955, 12 (1): 69-81.
  • Mark M. Ravitch:
    Intussusception in Infants and Children.
    Illinois, Charles C Thomas Publisher, 1959. 121 pages.
  • Mark M. Ravitch, editor:
    The Papers of Alfred Blalock.
    2 volumes. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1966.
  • Mark M. Ravitch:
    A Century of Surgery 1880-1980. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1981. 1612 pages.
    History of the American Surgical Association’
  • Félicien M. Steichen and M. M. Ravitch:
    Stapling in Surgery. Chicago; London, Year Book Medical Publishers, 1984: 32-77.
  • Mark M. Ravitch and Richard N. Matzen:
    Pulmonary Insufficiency in Pectus Excavatum Associated with Left Pulmonary Agenesis, Congenital Clubbed Feet and Ectromelia: Improvement Following Operation.
    Chest, 1968, 54: 58-62.
  • Mark M. Ravitch, Felicien M. Steichen, Roger Welter, editors:
    Current practice of surgical stapling. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1990.
  • Marc A. Shampo:
    A Cohort of Three Early Colorectal Surgeons: Goligher, Ravitch, and Nigro. Historical Perspectives.
    Journal of Pelvic Surgery, January/February 2001, 7 (1): 8-10.

What is an eponym?

An eponym is a word derived from the name of a person, whether real or fictional. A medical eponym is thus any word related to medicine, whose name is derived from a person.

What is Whonamedit?

Whonamedit.com is a biographical dictionary of medical eponyms. It is our ambition to present a complete survey of all medical phenomena named for a person, with a biography of that person.

Disclaimer:

Whonamedit? does not give medical advice.
This survey of medical eponyms and the persons behind them is meant as a general interest site only. No information found here must under any circumstances be used for medical purposes, diagnostically, therapeutically or otherwise. If you, or anybody close to you, is affected, or believe to be affected, by any condition mentioned here: see a doctor.