From collection Person List
Wiley F Barker was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He bravely went to New England to attend Harvard University followed by Harvard Medical School (he graduated Magna Cum Laude from both). He remained in Boston for his surgical training, including a year as an associate in Pathology, at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. During his residency his mentors included Dr. Robert Gross, a pioneer congenital heart surgeon, and John Homans who was an early pioneer in venous procedures. Both of these men stimulated Barker’s interest in vascular surgery.
He was recruited to the then new medical School at UCLA in 1949, even before the completion of his surgical training. He remained at UCLA for the remainder of his professional career, rising through the ranks from Instructor to Professor of Surgery and finally, Professor Emeritus. He also held appointments throughout his career at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital. He was the first chief of vascular Surgery at UCLA, a position he held from 1964-1972. He also held the position of Assistant Dean. In spite of his interests and accomplishments as a vascular surgeon, he always proudly considered himself to be a general Surgeon even as he became a leader in vascular surgery.
Early in his tenure at UCLA, he and Dr. Jack Cannon were assigned to run the Peripheral Vascular Clinic . As an undergraduate at Harvard, he was a classmate of Edwin J. Wylie, the founder of the vascular surgery service at UCSF. He learned the technique of aorto-iliac endarterectomy from Wylie and did his initial case in 1951. By 1952 he had enough experience to present 12 successful cases at the annual meeting of the Western Surgical Association. Barker was one of the first surgeons to routinely use heparin following endarterectomy and he felt that this was a major factor to successful outcomes. He also conducted important investigations into the healing of the arterial wall after endarterectomy and these led to his use of heparin in these cases. Overall, he published over 160 scientific papers and book chapters, 8 books and numerous commentaries, editorials and films.
His accomplishments led to his election as president of several surgical societies including the Society for Vascular Surgery, the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (American Association of Vascular Surgery), Pacific Coast Surgical Association, Society of Clinical Surgery, Southern California Vascular Surgical Society and the Pan-Pacific Surgical Association. He was also a governor and vice-President of the American College of Surgeons. An endowed lecture in his name has been created at UCLA.
He was one of the most influential vascular surgeons on the west coast during the 1960-1970’s. He was also an excellent teacher and mentor and a kind and beloved gentleman. In his retirement years he became a prominent grower, judge and seller of orchids.
Important Publications:
1. Barker WF. An Evaluation of Endarterectomy. Arch Surg, 1953, 66:488-494
2. Cannon JA, Barker WF. Successful management of Obstructive Femoral Atherosclerosis by Endarterectomy: Experience with a Semi-Closed Technique in 100 Selected cases. Surgery, 1955:38; 48-57.
3. Barker WF. Determinants of failure in the treatment of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms. Arch Surg, 1984: 119:1264-1268
4. Barker WF. Venous interruption for pulmonary embolism: The illustrative case of Richard M. Nixon. Ann Vasc Surg, 1997, 11:387-390
