The Heart of a Surgeon A Bond Between Art and Science BY ALEXANDRA EVANS
Dr. Walter Randolph “Ranny” Chitwood, Jr. ’68 is truly a jack of all trades, and he has mastered quite a few. A pioneering heart surgeon, talented photographer, master angler, antiquarian bibliophile, and ham radio operator, Dr. Chitwood finds insight and inspiration from myriad places and experiences. But art and science have undoubtedly been the two most common threads woven through his life’s story. A holistic view of art and science has helped Dr. Chitwood innovate throughout his illustrious 45-year career. The first surgeon to perform a robotic mitral valve repair in North America, he went on to operate and train surgeons on the technique and technology in 17 countries—often carving out time for photography side trips during his stay in each country. “Everything I’ve done has been an incremental step,” Chitwood says. “I learned electronics from amateur radio. I learned optics from photography. So now I’m working with a robot which is optics and electronics. You have to use your left brain and right brain.” A true student of the liberal arts, his varied interests inform his understanding of new concepts and procedures and have guided his care of patients, making him a better physician. And by all standards, he has been a great physician. Although he was an early champion of the robotic surgical technique—which results in less patient trauma,
4
fewer complications, and faster recovery times when compared to the traditional surgical alternative—his belief that robotics were the future for heart operations was not widely shared by his colleagues at first. After successfully completing the first robotic mitral valve repair in 2000, Chitwood went on the speaking circuit to give talks about the procedure and share info with other surgical teams. He was surprised with the lukewarm reception and pushback to implementing a new technique because “the old way worked just fine,” according to some of his colleagues. “I knew I was going to be highly successful because of the way they blew me off the stage,” he laughs. “Now the guys who didn’t believe in me are the same ones giving me all these awards.” Time has proven that if there’s one thing you shouldn’t do, it’s underestimate Ranny Chitwood. Still in his cardiac residency program at Duke University in 1984, Dr. Chitwood was tapped to develop and head the brandnew cardiac surgery program at East Carolina University School of Medicine. Every weekend of his final year at Duke, he drove the 108 miles from Durham to Greenville to help build the ICU facility, order equipment, and hire staff. “I said, ‘We will operate within two weeks of my arrival,’” Chitwood remembers. “Of course, everyone thought I was crazy. But we did just that.” That was just the beginning. Dr. Chitwood went on
THE RECORD of HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE SUMMER 2021
