Orvar Swenson, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Orvar Swenson

American pediatric surgeon

Date of Birth: 07-Feb-1909

Place of Birth: Helsingborg, Skåne County, Sweden

Date of Death: 13-Apr-2012

Profession: pediatric surgeon

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Orvar Swenson (7 February 1909 – 13 April 2012) was a Swedish-born American pediatric surgeon.
He discovered the cause of Hirschsprung's disease and in 1948, with Alexander Bill, performed the first pull-through operation in a child with megacolon, which then became a treatment for the disease. Initially a resident in pathology, he soon became an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at Harvard and later moved to Boston's Floating Hospital for Children as surgeon-in-chief, where he was the first pediatric surgeon on the staff at the hospital and where he began his research in Hirschsprung's disease.
Subsequently he became surgeon-in-chief of Children's Memorial Hospital, where he remained until his retirement in 1973. In 1973, Swenson was elected president of the American Pediatric Surgical Association.
He authored Swenson's Pediatric Surgery, which ran into five editions and he was the recipient of a number of awards including the E.
Mead Johnson Award, the William E.
Ladd Medal and the Denis Browne Gold Medal.