S. Gilbert Blount, Jr, MD, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 19, 1916. He received his Bachelor of Science degree at Rhode Island State College in 1939 and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1943, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed his internal medicine residency and a cardiology residency at Rhode Island Hospital and was a senior resident in internal medicine at the North Carolina Baptist Hospital and the Bowman-Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Blount then served in the Army Medical Corps from 1944 to 1947, including 11/2 years as a Chief of the Cardiovascular Section at Oliver General Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. After discharge from the Army, Dr. Blount then completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology under Dr. Helen Taussig at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a fellowship in the cardiovascular laboratory under Dr. Richard Bing. In September 1950, Dr. Henry Swan recruited Dr. Blount to develop the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
During Dr. Blount's tenure, and in conjunction with Dr. Henry Swan, many congenital heart defects were repaired. Using hypothermia (a bathtub filled with ice) under anesthesia, atrial septal defects were successfully closed even before the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. Colorado's Alpine Heights also engaged Dr. Blount in the study of high altitude physiology, especially in the investigation of pulmonary hypertension. He founded the Cardiovascular Pulmonary Laboratory at the University of Colorado. Some 140 cardiology fellows trained under Dr. Blount. He was the author of some 235 scientific publications. For his academic accomplishments, he was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.
With his large referral base and his development of cardiopulmonary bypass, Dr. Blount cared for a large patient population who reached adulthood with congenital heart lesions. It was enormously instructive to witness this burly, often domineering figure, sit with compassion and patience while explaining cardiac issues to his patients. Gil Blount felt deeply for those under his care and was observed weeping after an unsuccessful operation of a 12-year-old child.
Above all, Gil Blount was a superlative teacher. He was a master of cardiac auscultation, and his bedside skills, developed before the era of modern imaging tools, were internationally renowned. In 1950, the American College of Cardiology recognized Dr. Blount with the Gifted Teacher Award. For his achievements, Dr. Blount was honored by the presidency of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, the Research Award of the American Heart Association, and the Outstanding Civilian Award from the Department of the Army. The S. Gilbert Blount Professorship was endowed in perpetuity for the Chief of Cardiology at the University of Colorado.
S. Gilbert Blount, Jr, died October 12, 2010, at the age of 94. Dr. Blount was married to his beloved wife, Jean, for 54 years until her death in 1998. He is the father of five girls: Randa, Ann, Donna, Sarah, and Lauren; a grandfather of 10 children; and a great-grandfather of 8 children.