American College of Cardiology history

1950 Wilfred Bigelow describes recovery from open heart surgery during hypothermia in dogs.

In December 1951, more than 400 physicians joined the first national meeting of the ACC, held in New York City at the Hotel Statler.

By the time the first general meeting was held in June 1952, the program attracted a medical audience of almost 500 physicians, from almost every state in the union, from Canada and from as far away as Hawaii.

Kisch was the first editor and was succeeded by Dack in 1953, launching his lifelong career as a medical editor.

The year 1954 marked the beginning of the College clinical workshops, the forerunners of the current postgraduate education programs.

The first Franz Groedel Convocation Lecture on Humanities in Medicine was delivered in 1956 by John F. Fulton, the famous medical historian.

Later, when a decision was made to create an official journal of the College, the American Journal of Cardiology made its debut in 1958 under Dack’s editorial leadership.

1960 Engineer Wilson Greatbach and his surgical collaborator William Chardack Implant a pacemaker In 10 patients.

1961 Norman Shumway and Richard Lower perform cardiac transplantation in animals.

1962 Hughes Day opens a coronary care unit at Bethany Hospital in Kansas City.

1964 James Black develops propranolol, the first speclfic β-adrenergic receptor blocking agent.

The advent of a new law signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson establishing Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 caused the ACC to expand its focus to include advocacy in addition to education.

In 1966 at the annual College meeting in Chicago with Eliot Corday presiding, White honored the College by presenting the Cummings Award to the team members of the International Circuit Courses during that year.

Thus was born another project, The Bethesda Conference, initiated by Eliot Corday in 1968.

1971 R.G. Gosling reports the first transesophageal continuous wave Doppler recording of cardiac flow velocity.

1972 Scientists at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals l synthesize thienopyridines, leading to the development of clopidogrel.

1973 H. William Strauss performs the first exercise stress myocardial perfusion exam.

On September 29, 1974 a ground-breaking ceremony was held, attended by College officers, members and government officials.

The building fund drive continued and raised $5 million by 1976.

The dedication ceremony for Heart House on October 3, 1977 was presided over by President Dean Mason and attended by 900 members and friends.

1978 Philip Reichert, MD, Emeritus Executive Director and Historian of the College writes about the history of Cardiology and the American College of Cardiology

1979 Geoffrey Hartzler performs first coronary angioplasty in acute myocardial Infarction.

The ACC and the American Heart Association (AHA) answered this call in 1980 by initiating a unique partnership to develop clinical guidelines.

1981 ACC publishes first Journal of the American College of Cardiology under Editor Simon Dack, MD, MACC.

In 1982 the Board of Trustees, Officers and the Executive Director made the decision to sever relations with its publishers and to found a new journal that it would own.

1983 Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, developed by Genentech, is used to dissolve thrombus in seven patients with acute myocardial Infarction.

Through the efforts of the late Horace Borchard, chairman of its Board of Trustees, the Franz M. Groedel Endowment Fund, now amounting to $500,000, was contributed to the College in May 1984 to promote research and educational programs of the College.

Philip Reichert died on March 20, 1985 at the age of 88.

1986 The first ACC Chapter is established.

The number of abstracts submitted and the number of papers presented have grown progressively, so that for the 1988 meeting, 3,554 abstracts were submitted to the Scientific Program Committee and 1,016 were accepted for presentation.

Over 20 courses have been scheduled for the first 6 months of 1989.

Endorsed by the Board of Trustees of the College, this recommendation encouraged the American Board of Internal Medicine to proceed with its proposed policy, which is to start in 1990.

1991 Bernadine Healy, MD, FACC becomes the first woman to direct the National Institutes of Health.

1992 Bernadine Healy, MD, FACC is the first woman to be recognized for her distinguished seivice by the ACC.

As such, the ACC's first home on the "World Wide Web" debuted in 1996, as did the College’s first relationships with industry policy.

1998 Suzanne B. Knoebel, MD, MACC becomes the first woman president and Master of theACC (MACC).

2000 ACC partners with AHA on National Performance Measurement Standards.

The ACC at 50: A giant Grew in Bethesda; The Impact of the ACC on Cardiovascular Medicine 2002 ACC’s Political Action Committee is created.

2003 ACC expands membership to the cardiac care team.

2004 First ACC Mobile App is released on guidelines.

2005 First ACC Sections are established.

2006 The first WIC Global Women's Breakfast takes place at ACC.06.

2007 Jane W. Newburger, MD, MPH, FACC is the first woman awarded ACC's distinguished scientist award.

2008 First outpatient clinical data registry – PINNACLE Registry – launches.

2009 Nanette Kass Wenger, MD, MACC is named as ACC's first woman distinguished mentor.

2010 ACC expands its registries internationally.

2012 First reports of experimental percutaneous mitral valve replacement appear.

2013 The first WIC Section Advocacy Workshop is held at ACC's Legislative Conference.

2014 More than 40,000 members, 50 state chapters and 30 international chapters, a worldwide network of cardiovascular professionals dedicated to transforming cardiac care and improving heart health.

2015 Sarah Clarke, MD, FACC becomes the first female president of the BCS.

Read the full March 2017 issue of Cardiology at ACC.org/Cardiology.

©2020 Project MUSE. Produced by Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Sheridan Libraries.

©2021 Project MUSE. Produced by Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Sheridan Libraries.