Back to Founding of AATS
Dr. Nathan Green was born in 1871 in Mneii, Ceylon, where his father
was a medical missionary. After graduation from Yale in 1894, the College of
Physicians and Surgeons conferred his Medical .degree in 1898. Following
internship at St. Lukes Hospital in New York, he continued on the staff of this
hospital until retirement in 1930. He also served in many other hospitals and,
during World War I, assumed directorship of the First (Columbia) Surgical
Division at Bellevue. Through affiliation with the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, he carried out significant research, much of it in collaboration with
Dr. Henry Janeway at the Memorial Hospital with which both were connected. As
many others had observed, the ability to maintain adequate respiration and
satisfactory anesthesia with the chest open was a major problem.He devised a positive pressure machine which performed
these functions, permitting him and Janeway to successfully carry out their
ideas. Experimentally, they resected lungs with good results. Both men well
appreciated the risk of infection when the esophagus was opened operatively. To
alleviate this problem, Dr. Green devised his button which permitted
esophago-gastric anastomosis without opening either organ. Although both he and
Janeway reported signal success with the method, they were still dissatisfied.
Before long, they were able to state that suture esophago-gastric anastomosis
after resection for carcinoma of the cardiac was a superior and preferable
method. Their papers were certainly landmarks in this effort.
Dr. Green's other studies ranged widely, through both the chest and
other areas. No informed person could question his professional contribution,
but for thoracic surgery, another facet of his work is vitally significant.
Shortly after Founding of the NYSTS, Ken Bulkley, its Secretary, departed for
Army service in France. Dr. Green assumed the responsibilities of this position
and became the first Secretary of the ' AATS. He devoted himself religiously to
this thankless job. Dr. Ethan Butler stated that more than anything else, "Nate
Green's bookwork was responsible for the survival of the AATS. Any inspection
of the correspondence in Dr. Butler's files substantiates Dr. Green's
dedication to the cause."
Dr. Nathan Green was a member of numerous other societies to which he
made valuable contributions. It is certain, however, that he served none more
faithfully than the AATS, becoming also President of that organization in 1925.
At the age of 83, in New Canaan, Connecticut, Dr. Green's death marked
the end of a career devoted to medical ideals, a career not graced with
impressive awards, yet unequivocal in its importance to us all.
