Donald Macleod Douglas was born on 28 June 1911 and educated at Madras College, University of St Andrew's, where he graduated MB ChB in 1934. He became Commonwealth fellow and fellow in surgery at the Mayo Clinic from 1937 to 1939 and was then appointed first assistant in surgery at the British Post

Harris B Shumacker was chairman of the department of surgery at Indiana University and a pioneer of cardiovascular surgery. He was born on 20 May 1908 in Laurel, Mississippi, the son of Harris Blumenthal Shumacker and Corinne Selma Shumacker née Teller. He attended the University of Tennessee at Cha