Vivien Thomas was born into humble beginnings in Iberia, Louisiana in 1910. The circumstances of that era prevented him from achieving his goal of attending medical school. He became a surgical research technician at Vanderbilt Medical School. While at Vanderbilt, he began working under Alfred Blalock, one of the famous surgeons of that era. When Blalock left Vanderbilt, he asked Thomas to come with him. At Hopkins, the surgical procedure known as the Blalock-Taussig Shunt was developed to treat a serious congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot. Vivien Thomas was instrumental in the development of that procedure.