Page 46 - ANZCP Gazette May 2023

UNDER THE PUMP – INTERVIEWS WITH PERFUSION LEGENDS
ALFRED STAMMERS, MSA, PBMS, CCP EMERITUS
Jane Ennor CCP, FANZCP
In the coming issues of the Gazette, I hope to be able to provide for you interviews from a variety of different perfusionists, all of whom in different ways have contributed to the development and evolution of our craft. It is my hope that these interviews are able to provide our community with an exchange of information to inspire passion, whilst acknowledging the work and influential impact of these perfusionists, and pay tribute to their legacy in our profession. These leaders have been pioneers in strategies, education and research that have shaped our profession globally. It is my hope that these interviews will provide an insight into the work and people upon whose shoulders we stand, and encouragement for our local community to continue to continue striving to advance our profession through research and innovation.
The first person I wished to interview was obvious, and a perfusionist who almost needs no introduction, Mr Alfred Stammers. I was delighted and grateful when he happily obliged.
Alfred Stammers, affectionately referred to as Al by all, began his career in perfusion as he considered applying for nursing school in Syracuse, New York, in 1985. In that same year Al fatefully met Dr. Edward Bove, a paediatric cardiac surgeon who had aspirations of commencing a research lab studying paediatric perfusion with a particular focus on myocardial preservation strategies. Al and Dr. Bove worked together to establish this lab which evolved from an idea in a room full of aspirations and boxes, to a fully functioning research lab. The main focus of their studies were on the comparisons between neonatal rabbit hearts and to adult rabbit hearts. Al worked in the lab for over two years before he met the perfusion director of the State University of New York (SUNY) Health Science Center. He applied and gained admission to undertake his associate degree in perfusion technology, and during his two year program at SUNY, Al continued his research on myocardial protection throughout his perfusion education, and continued to publish papers, in periodicals such as the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the Journal of ExtraCorporeal Technology. This
dedication to the profession and his training earned him the “Outstanding Student Award” at SUNY.
Upon completion of his perfusion education, Al was recruited to the clinical perfusion team at the University of Michigan, where once again alongside Dr. Bove , he worked in a new centre for artificial hearts and heart/lung transplants. During this time, Al also conducted research into techniques of brain protection during aortic surgery and blood management. Throughout his successful perfusion career, Al has taught research studies at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), and was the first program director of Nebraska Medical Centre’s clinical perfusion school making it the world’s second program to award students a Master’s degree upon graduation. Al continues to contribute and engage via his work as an educator at multiple perfusion education faculties across the United States.
43 MAY 2023 | www.anzcp.org