Baird, James A

Born Hastings 24 Jan 1922 Died Hastings 10 Jul 2003
Jim Baird
Educated at Wellington College
HS / HP, Palmerston North Hospital 1946 – 1947
Surgical Registrar, Palmerston North Hospital 1948
RSO / Surgical Registrar, Essex County Hospital, Colchester Jan 1950 – Mar 1951
RSO / Surgical Registrar, Brompton Hospital, London May 1951 – Aug 1952 (Sir Russell Brock and Mr O S Tubbs)
Appointed Wellington Hospital’s first full-time Thoracic Surgeon Nov 1952
Established surgery for congenital heart disease and for mitral valvotomy
Study leave 1960 (6 months) to multiple centres in England and in the USA
Headed the 2nd National Cardiac Surgery Unit at Wellington Hospital, when it was opened in 1964, and with his colleague, Tim Savage, pioneered cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in Wellington
Retired 31 Dec 1982

Obituary: NZMJ 2003 116:22 Aug 2003
photograph courtesy Wellington Hospital photographic archive