Reflections - Houston Methodist Hospital: A Supplement to Houston Hearts: A History of Cardiovascular Surgery and Medicine and The Methodist DeBakey Heart ... Vascular Center, Houston Methodist Hospital

The inspiration for Reflections came to Dr. William L. Winters, Jr. more than a decade ago when he and the late Dr. Don W. Chapman were philosophizing about the extraordinary changes that had taken place in the practice of medicine, and in particular the advances in cardiovascular medicine over the past 60 years, most all of which they had each experienced or participated in personally.

Acutely aware that many other physicians on the Houston Methodist Hospital medical staff, as well as members of the administration, also were active participants in this exceptional history, Dr. Winters knew a story was there to be told. It was then he began to conduct video interviews with long-standing members of the medical staff to chronicle some of that story to prevent it being lost from memory.

Starting with Dr. Chapman and ultimately including Drs. DeBakey and Cooley, among more than 70 others, it became more than a decade-long effort. With more than 2,500 years of experience at Houston Methodist Hospital among them, the participants collectively contributed a treasure trove of personal observations and reflections that ultimately served as one of the key reference sources in Houston Hearts: A History of Cardiovascular Surgery and Medicine and the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Houston Methodist Hospital, the book written by Dr. Winters with Betsy Parish and published in 2014.

The transcripts from these video and audio-recorded, personal interviews are each dated and presented with limited revisions for clarification purposes, thus reflecting the candid, conversational style of the format. As a result, the transcripts may not exactly match the video and audio recordings. To view the recorded sessions in their entirety for further research, please contact the Librarian Archivist at the Houston Methodist Professional Education Center.