“How Could I Have Been So Lucky?”

For Thomas Krummel, MD ’77, these words reflect his view on an esteemed career as a pioneering pediatric surgeon, renowned scientist, trailblazing innovator and investor in groundbreaking technologies.

In 2023, Dr. Thomas Krummel (right) received the prestigious American College of Surgeons’ Jacobson Innovation Award for pioneering life-saving advances in newborn life support and championing simulation and virtual reality in surgical education. Presenting him with the award is MCW alumnus E. Christopher Ellison, MD ’76, president of the ACS. Dr. Krummel also received the 2003 MCW/Marquette Alumni Association Alumnus of the Year award.

“I grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, and had a classic small-town Midwestern upbringing,” Dr. Krummel shares. “I was sort of a science guy and majored in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. One day I stumbled into a meeting of a pre-med club – probably because pizza and beer were free – and was lucky enough to be mentored by an advisor whose guidance got six or seven of us into medical school that year.”

Dr. Krummel was accepted “early decision” at MCW and says he blossomed during his clinical years. “I had some unique opportunities that charted a career for me in surgery and were foundational for the things that followed,” he notes.

“Then, students played a major role in bedside care, and as a result, I had a phenomenal experience learning to be a real doctor. On my surgery rotation, I did a ‘selective’ in cardiac surgery and didn’t leave the hospital for two weeks. It was just galvanizing in terms of everything I learned. In fact, I lived in the hospital for the better part of two years after that,” he adds.

In his senior year, Dr. Krummel completed a rotation in pediatric surgery with Dr. Marvin Glicklich at Children’s Hospital, which planted the seed for his future interests. Dr. Krummel also credits MCW surgeons Dr. H. Myron Kauffman, Jr., and Dr. Larry Bonchek with stoking his passion for the field.

Thomas Krummel studies in the call room of the old County Hospital during his final year of medical school. This photo appeared in the MCW Class of 1977 yearbook.

In another stroke of luck, Dr. Kauffman – a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) – personally recommended Dr. Krummel for a surgical residency there. “My clinical experiences at MCW were invaluable. As a surgery intern, I was better equipped than many of the junior residents because I had been allowed to grow in the supervised, but self-reliant environment at MCW,” Dr. Krummel notes.

Dr. Krummel’s career-long focus on innovation began at MCV, where as a second-year resident he formed the world’s second ever program focused on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) – a then-novel form of advanced life support designed to keep blood moving through the body in newborns with life-threatening cardiac or respiratory conditions. The team’s research in infants helped establish ECMO as an effective intervention, and the approach has since saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide. His research and subsequent work has pioneered advances in surgical technology and our understanding of the biochemical and cellular mechanisms of scarring and tissue damage.

Following his residency and a surgical research fellowship at MCV, Dr. Krummel completed a residency in pediatric surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a fellowship in fetal surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He then spent more than two decades in Silicon Valley, including as chair of the department of surgery at Stanford University. In 2002, recognizing a need to bridge gaps among surgery, innovation and clinical adoption, Dr. Krummel founded the Stanford Surgical Innovation Program, which merged with the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. He then served as its co-director until 2021.

Dr. Krummel and his wife, Susie, have three daughters and six grandchildren. He currently divides his time between Austin, Texas, and California, where he continues to mentor young scientists and helps fund promising medical technologies. “It has been a miracle and a privilege to take care of patients,” Dr. Krummel shares. “How could I have been so lucky?”

– Sara L. Wilkins