Daniel Hale Williams

Williams, Daniel Hale Williams, Daniel Hale (1858-1931), black physician and surgical pioneer who performed the first successful heart surgery. Born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, Williams started work as an apprentice shoemaker at age 12. He worked his way through Janesville Classical Academy in Janesville, Wisconsin, as a barber and bass violinist. In 1893 he received a medical degree from Chicago Medical College, now part of Northwestern University. After serving his internship at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, Williams was …

…the patient recovered fully. In 1894 President Grover Cleveland appointed Williams to serve as surgeon-in-chief at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. While at Freedmen's Hospital he started another school for black nurses. In 1898 he returned to Provident Hospital where he practiced surgery until 1912. He also was a surgeon at Cook County Hospital from 1900 to 1906. Williams was appointed to the staff of Chicago's St. Luke's Hospital in 1907, where he continued to practice surgery until his death.