| Peter Allen | |
| Birth Date: | 13 December 1921 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Death Place: | Oakville, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality: | Canadian |
| Citizenship: | Canadian |
| Alma Mater: | University of Toronto, 1946 |
| Occupation: | Surgeon |
| Years Active: | 1954 to 2006 |
| Notable Works: | first open heart operation in British Columbia |
| Awards: | McLaughlin Fellowship and Nuffield Travelling Fellowship |
Peter Allen (December 13, 1921 – November 17, 2014) was a Canadian surgeon who played a leading role in improving cardiac surgery techniques. Along with Dr. Philip Ashmore, Dr. W.G. (Bill) Trapp and Dr. Ross Robertson, he performed the first Open Heart Surgery in British Columbia on 29 October 1957 at Vancouver General Hospital, by closing an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) in 9 year old John Evans, using Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB).[1] [2]
Allen grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1946, he obtained an MD from the University of Toronto. In 1953, he received a Fellowship in general surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and, in 1964, a Fellowship in thoracic surgery from the same institution.
His post graduate training included one year of internal medicine at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands followed by years at the University of Toronto in the general surgery program at the Hospital for Sick Children and the Toronto General Hospital.[3]
Returning to Vancouver, between early 1954 to mid-1956, he developed a practice in general surgery. During that period he held a research position at the British Columbia Research Institute under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Evelyn. The project tested the feasibility of replacing a diseased abdominal aorta with a mesh supported vena cava autograft[1] In mid 1956 he began a year of training in Cardiac surgery with C. Walton Lillehei, the originator of Open-heart surgery, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In early 1957, he participated in the operation where the world's first artificial cardiac pacemaker was employed by Lillehei.
In mid 1957 Allen returned to Vancouver and formed a cardiac team with surgeon, Philip Ashmore, anaesthetist William Dodds and paediatrician Morris Young. On October 29, 1957, at the Vancouver General Hospital, the team successfully performed the first open heart operation in British Columbia.He also performed the first Coronary Artery Bypass Graft surgery in Cardiff, Wales
In 1977 to 1980 Allen was invited to establish a cardiac surgical certre at the Kasturba General Hospital, Bhopal, India. The Indian surgeon, Dr. Raj Bisaryia, who had trained in Vancouver continued the program between Dr. Allen's visits.
In 1987 and 1989 Allen was the visiting cardiac surgeon at the Ibn-al;Bitar Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. The hospital was built and staffed by the Irish construction company, PARC. The doctors, nurses and technicians were Irish, the only Iraqis were the patients and interpreters. Many patients lived in remote areas with minimal access to medical care. Consequently, most of the cardiac valve replacements used bioprosthetic