GENERAL INFORMATION
STUDENT INFORMATION
SP INFORMATION
Delbert D. Neis, M.D., a 1943 graduate of the University of Kansas and 1945
graduate of the KU School of Medicine, was a noted physician and surgeon in
Omaha, Nebraska. A pioneer in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Dr.
Neis performed the first open heart surgery in the Omaha region. In 1961,
he designed the first heart-lung machine built by Sarns, Inc., the company
that later built the machine used for the world’s first heart transplant.
Dr. Neis was born in Eudora, Kansas in 1920. He completed a surgical
residency at the University of Nebraska ----- where he later was an associate
professor ----- and a fellowship in thoracic surgery at the University of
Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. Certified in both the American Board
of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Dr. Neis’ career
spanned four decades in seven Midwest hospitals. He died in 1995 at
age 75.
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The University of Kansas Medical Center