LDS Hospital played a leading role in pioneering a pulmonary function laboratory and setting up the first shock/trauma intensive care unit (ICU). In conjunction with the University of Utah, LDS created a program in occupational and environmental health and critical care. Life Flight by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft speeded up the initiation of critical care.

The institution of hemodialysis for renal failure prolonged many lives, but kidney transplants eventually proved not only more effective but also less expensive. The first renal transplant in Utah was performed at Salt Lake General Hospital in 1965, and the patient was still living in 1992.

Dr. Willem J. Kolff, the originator of hemodialysis, the artificial kidney, and artificial heart, joined the University of Utah Medical Center in 1968. This major boost to the artificial organs program resulted in the implanting of an artificial heart in dentist Barney Clark in 1982. Pioneering artificial eyes, ears, and arms have been additional tangible results.

Dr. Ray Rumel was the pioneer thoracic surgeon. His removal of a lobe of the lung for cancer at LDS Hospital, resulting in a nineteen-year survival for the patient, was a truly innovative procedure in 1942. Then came open-heart surgery to correct congenital cardiac abnormalities and to replace defective valves. Reconstruction of narrowed blood vessels, aorta, renal arteries, and coronary arteries prevented many complications of arteriosclerosis.

Continued progress in thoracic surgery led to the formation of a team of surgeons doing heart transplants in four hospitals. The survival rate of 90 percent one year after surgery in 412 transplants performed from 1985 to 1992 is one of the best in the country.

Homer Warner deserves credit for developing the most sophisticated system of utilizing computers in total patient care, making LDS Hospital a model for the world.