Among the first: the career of John Henry Evans, MD

During his 46-year career, John Henry Evans, MD, significantly guided anesthesia's evolution from a field dominated by lay practitioners toward one in which the preeminent role was played by physicians. Widely recognized as an expert on supplemental oxygen therapy as well as the developer of subcutaneous oxygen as an adjuvant treatment for several chronic diseases, Evans throughout his years of practice held an academic appointment at the University of Buffalo. From that post he tirelessly employed professional political persuasion, combined with a high order of organizational skill, to help create and expand the importance of residency-trained anesthesiologists. As president of the Associated Anesthetists of the United States and Canada, complemented by a quarter-century tour on the International Anesthesia Research Society's Board of Governors, he significantly contributed to the development of anesthesiology into its current form.