Owen Wangensteen

Owen Wangensteen was one of the dominant figures in mid-20th century American surgical oncology who pioneered the concept of second-look surgery for abdominal cancers to detect and resect early recurrences. He performed the first successful total gastrectomy for gastric cancer in the United States and developed extensive resection procedures for gastrointestinal malignancies. His surgical training program at Minnesota produced an extraordinary number of academic surgical chairs. His contributions shaped the development of systematic oncological surgery principles in the United States and worldwide.