Timeline - Dr. David B. Todd, Jr.
March 22, 1931 - Dr. Todd Born
Born in Homewood, Alabama right outside of Birmingham. He was the eldest of three children born to David B. Todd, Sr. and Gladys Morris Todd. A very bright and curious child, he was wise beyond his years.
May 1947 - Graduates Rosewood High - Birmingham, AL
Academics came easy for him as his teachers advanced him through school ahead of his peers. His brother could never understand as he watched young David read comic books while the rest of them studied, yet young David excelled in every class. David Jr. graduated Valedictorian of his high school class. He developed an interest in medicine at an early age and was off to college to pursue his passion.
September 1947 - Enters Morehouse College - Atlanta, GA
He finished Morehouse College, once again at the top of his class. His sites were set. He is accepted into Meharry Medical College.
May 1956 - Graduates from Meharry Medical College - Nashville, TN
David B. Todd, Jr. graduates from Meharry Medical College in 1956, finishing first, with the highest grades in a class of 62 graduates. That same year he married a young nurse he met while in medical school, Loraine Cynthia LeShore, and they began their life together.
May 1959 - Completes Residency at Hurley Hospital - Flint, MI
June 1962 - Completes Surgical Residency at The VA - Tuskegee, AL
May 1963 - Serves in the US Army, as a Captain at Fort Leonard Wood, MO
March 22, 1965 - Moves back to Nashville to study under Dr. Mathew Walker Sr.
It was then when he committed to pursue cardiac surgery. Dr. Walker tapped him as the man to bring a cardiac program to Meharry Medical School where there previously hadn’t been one.
May 1967 - Studies at the University of Minnesota Medical School
Dr. Todd entered the University of Minnesota Medical School of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery in Minneapolis where he earned his Ph.D. in thoracic surgery in 1966. While at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Todd Studied with such prominent cardiac surgeons as Dr. Christian Barnard (who in 1967 performed the world’s first successful heart transplant in Capetown, South Africa), and Dr. C. Walton Lillehei. Dr. Lillehei was so impressed with Dr. Todd’s performance on his Ph.D. exam that he wrote a letter to Dr. Matthew Walker, stating that it was the shortest Ph.D. exam ever documented.
May 1969 - Returns to Nashville to Head Cardiac Thoracic Surgery at Meharry Medical College
Dr. David B. Todd Jr. was the first Black cardiovascular surgeon in Nashville. He and his team performed the first open-heart surgery in the city of Nashville in 1972, followed by performing the city’s first heart transplant. Many of his patients that received these surgeries are still alive today.
This was during an era when the medical field was still widely segregated. Unbeknownst to many, Dr. Todd also performed “ghost” surgeries in and around Nashville, saving the lives of countless individuals, as he was the only surgeon capable of performing these complex surgical heart procedures.
