Dedication

The editors would like to dedicate this volume of Operative Pediatric Surgery, second edition, to two of the most contributing as well as recognizable pediatric surgeons in the world, the late Charles Everett Koop, MD, DSc (1916-2013) and the late M. Judah Folkman, MD (1933-2008).

Dr. Koop received his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, his medical degree at Cornell, and his surgical training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. At the young age of 32, Dr. Koop was appointed to the position of Surgeon-in-Chief, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Koop's accomplishments were many: development of the first neonatal intensive care unit; development of a skilled multidisciplinary surgical service; development of an internationally renowned training program in pediatric surgery; development of operative approaches that emphasized speed and simplicity; and a remarkable attention to detail for procedures that ranged from the simple to the highly complex; and he was an international leader in the prolonged task of attaining recognition for the emerging field of pediatric surgery. Dr. Koop was the first editor of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery.

At the age of 65 in 1982, Dr. Koop was appointed by President Reagan first as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and subsequently as Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service. The recognition and respect that his actions and uniformed dress generated for the PHS were legendary. His policy challenges included a position of anti-tobacco, promoting smoking cessation education, and the benefits of limiting the effects of second-hand smoke; the education of America about the newly recognized transmissible HIV/AIDS virus epidemic; a strong position for life preservation in the “Baby Doe” case; and an anti-obesity and prevention of traumatic injury campaigns.

Dr. Koop also was a devout Christian with a strong commitment to the sanctity of human life, a position widely respected, yet controversial. His principles were strongly reflected in his surgical service at CHOP, in his role as mentor and friend to his trainees and colleagues, and in his respect for the importance of family, spouses, and children—either those in his own life, children under his care and their families, or those in the lives of his mentees.

M. Judah Folkman, MD, received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his medical degree from Harvard. He did his surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1960, Folkman was drafted into the U.S. Navy, a fate that brought him to the National Naval Medical Center, where, in association with David Long, he first reported the use of silicone rubber implantable polymers for the sustained release of drugs, a discovery that launched the field of controlled-release technology. Also, during this time, he made his first experimental observation that tumor-related or environmental factors were essential for tumor growth, the founding principle of “tumor angiogenesis.”

An appointment at Boston City Hospital followed, and at age 34, he was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief, Boston Children's Hospital. He spent six months of additional pediatric surgical training under Dr. Koop in Philadelphia before returning to the position he held in Boston for 14 years. Dr. Folkman then turned his full attention to research. His laboratory proved that the inhibition of tumor-feeding blood vessels would inhibit growth of the tumor, whether benign or malignant, primary or metastatic. A class of angiogenic inhibiting agents followed that propelled the laboratory work from cancer to diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, inflammatory bowel disease, and vascular benign tumors. Angiogenesis inhibition therapy became a worldwide research and treatment focus.

In 1968, Folkman was appointed the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He was the founder and director of the Boston Children's Hospital Vascular Biology Program and the Vascular Anomalies Center.

Folkman founded an entirely new field of biology and a new approach to understanding and treating cancer and other diseases. He was a stimulator of thought, an educator whether one-on-one or in a formal lecture whose presentations were spectacular in content and clarity, an empathetic, compassionate surgeon, and a friend and colleague.

It is for these reasons that we dedicate this second edition of Operative Pediatric Surgery to the late Charles Everett Koop and the late M. Judah Folkman, our colleagues, mentors, and friends, whose impact on this earth extended from the life of an individual infant to the betterment of the health of an entire nation as well as the world.