Podcast: 10 ‘Famous Firsts’ From Jefferson’s History

As the University celebrates its bicentennial this year, we reflect on aspects of its past that set it apart from the crowd.

Jefferson is celebrating its Bicentennial year, so we thought it was the perfect time to dig through the history books and examine famous local, national and international “firsts” from the University’s past.

Now entering its third century, Jefferson has improved lives in the region in many ways, and the 10 Jefferson “firsts” continue to set us apart from the crowd.

In 1953, Dr. John H. Gibbon (JMC 1927) conceived of and developed the world’s first successful heart-lung machine. That May, he became the first to perform surgery using it. (Photo/courtesy of Thomas Jefferson University Archives, Philadelphia)

This episode of the Nexus Podcast focuses on groundbreaking advances spanning from our institutional birth all the way through this very moment. There are some that you likely already know about, although we’ll offer some fun background. Others? Yeah, they’ll come as a surprise. (There were so many “firsts” – like the first-of-its-kind College of Population Health established here in 2008 – that this episode isn’t all-encompassing.)

So, come along for a time-traveling voyage through the things that link Jefferson today to its roots and fuel its progression into the future of work, education, health care and more.