Thuss Memorial Lecture
This endowed lectureship was established in 1977 by the late Dr. Charles J. Thuss, Jr., in memory of his parents, Dr. Charles J. Thuss, Sr., and Gertrude Noble Thuss. An identical lectureship was simultaneously endowed at Vanderbilt University, alma mater of Drs. Thuss, Sr., and Jr. The purpose of both lectureships was to bring distinguished contributors in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery to both campuses for teaching and for inspiration, benefiting the student body, plastic surgeons in training, faculty, and the community of plastic surgeons.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1983, Charles Thuss, Jr., and his son, Carter, died in a tragic plane crash. His widow, Emily Thuss, asked that the originally endowed lectureship be expanded to include her late husband and son. Accordingly, beginning with the 1985 lecture, and continuing in years to come, this significant educational event, The Thuss Memorial Lecture, is in memory of three generations of the Thuss family.
Dr.Charles J. Thuss, Sr., a graduate in Vanderbilt Medical School's class of 1931, pursued a distinguished career in Plastic Surgery. He practiced in Birmingham, Alabama, from 1935 to 1951, and served as Chief of Plastic Surgery at Valley Forge Army Hospital from 1951-1954. He was subsequently Chief of Plastic Surgery at Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco until 1962. After retiring from the Service with the rank of Colonel, he practiced as Chief of Plastic Surgery at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Santa Clara, and Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto. Dr. Thuss died on September 10, 1977.
Charles, Jr., was born in Birmingham, Alabama, educated at McCallie School in Chattanooga, Catholic University, and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He trained in pathology at Brooke Army Hospital and Baylor Hospital in Texas. He served with distinction as a pathologist and commanding officer of the 946th Medical Laboratory in Vietnam, as well as Chief, Anatomical Pathology, and commanding officer of the Fourth Army Area Laboratory at Ft. Sam Houston. He followed his army career with a successful private practice, which led to the development of rural health initiative programs, on-site laboratories for rural hospitals, and a new nationwide cost-effective cytology screening procedure. His loss is still felt by all who knew him, and the Thuss Memorial Lecture is a fitting tribute to him, his parents, and his son.
2009 Thuss Memorial Lecturer: Dr. John Mulliken
The Sixteenth Thuss Memorial Lecture in Plastic Surgery will be given by Dr. John Mulliken. Dr. Mulliken was born and bred in the Midwest. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University (1960); attended medical school at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons (1964); and completed internship, general surgical residency, and one year fellowship in Developmental Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
He devised a single-stage repair of bilateral complete cleft lip and nasal deformity and has applied anthropometry to analysis of corrected cleft lip and other craniofacial disorders. His collaboration with basic science colleagues led to the discovery of genes that cause Boston-type craniosynostosis (MSX2); cleidocranial dysplasia (CBFA1); craniometaphyseal dysplasia (ANK); familial cutaneomucosal venous malformations (TIE-2); multiple glomuvenous malformations (glomulin); and capillary malformation-AVM (RASA1).
Dr. Mulliken has written 350 original papers and 52 book chapters. He is co-founder and past president of the International Society of Vascular Anomalies. He is Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels (1998). Dr. Mulliken has been the Director of the Craniofacial Centre at Children’s Hospital since 1986.
Thuss Memorial Lecturers
| 1977 | Erle E. Peacock, Jr., M.D. University of Arizona |
| 1978 | Luis Vasconez, M.D. University of California San Francisco |
| 1979 | Fernando Ortiz-Monasterio, M.D. National University of Mexico |
| Spring 1981 | Bernard M. O'Brien, M.D. Melbourne, Australia |
| Fall 1981 | Charles E. Horton, M.D. Norfolk, Virginia |
| 1983 | Ronald M. Sato, M.D. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center San Jose, California |
| 1985 | Mark Gorney, M.D. St. Francis Memorial Hospital San Francisco, California |
| 1987 | David L. Larson, M.D. Medical College of Wisconsin |
| 1990 | Jack C. Fisher, M.D. F.A.C.S. University of California at San Diego |
| 1995 | Joseph G. McCarthy, M.D. New York University School of Medicine |
| 1997 | Ronald M. Zuker, M.D., FRCS University of Toronto |
| 2001 | Joseph Gruss, M.D. University of Washington |
| 2003 | Mary McGrath, M.D. University of California San Francisco |
| 2007 | Dr. Susan Mackinnon Washington University School of Medicine |
