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.

The Kansas University Endowment Association and the University of Kansas School of Medicine gratefully acknowledge the generosity of Dr. Neis' wife, Myrnice, and daughter, Diane, whose gift made the renovation of space and purchase of equipment for the Delbert D. Neis, M.D., Clinical Skills Laboratory possible.