Robert Othello Hickman (

Monticello, Utah Monticello ( ) is a city located in San Juan County, Utah, United States and is the county seat. It is the second most populous city in San Juan County, with a population of 1,972 at the 2010 census. The Monticello area was settled in July 18 ...

September 27, 1926–May 10, 2019) was a Seattle-area pediatric nephrologist and inventor of the Hickman catheter. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hickman was raised in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 United States Census, 2020 census recorded the population at 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Ca ...

. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1945 to 1946. From 1947 to 1949 he served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ in France. He married Lucy Jean Whitesides in 1950. He earned his undergraduate degree in anatomy from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. He later received his medical degree from the

University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine (abbreviated UMSOM), located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and ...

. He did an internship with the

and a residency with the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he worked with

Belding Scribner Belding Hibbard Scribner (January 18, 1921 – June 19, 2003) was an American physician and a pioneer in kidney dialysis. Biography Scribner received his medical degree from Stanford University in 1945. After completing his postgraduate stu ...

on hemodialysis. He was part of a team that put the first patient in the world on kidney dialysis and broke ground developing catheters and shunts. The Hickman catheter is currently used to deliver medication intravenously, particularly to cancer patients, as well as for the withdrawal of blood for analysis. In 1991, he took a three-year sabbatical to serve as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ. First he served over the Haiti Port-au-Prince mission. However a decision was made by higher up leaders to place that mission under a Haitian president due to worsening political instability, and Hickman was transferred to being president of the Raleigh North Carolina Mission. Seven years later, he took a second sabbatical as the doctor for the

Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center The Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (often simply referred to as the BYU Jerusalem Center or BYU–Jerusalem, and locally known as the Mormon University), situated on Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, is a sa ...

, administering to about 800 students. Hickman served in many positions in The Church of Jesus Christ. This included service as a bishop, stake president of the Lynnwood Washington Stake, stake patriarch and temple sealer. Hickman and his wife Lucy were the parents of six children.

Awards and recognition

The

University of Washington Medical Center The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) is a hospital in the University District of Seattle, Washington. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine and is located in the Wa ...

has endowed a chair in his honor.

References

External links

''The Cancer Letter'' obituary for HickmanASCO Post obituary for HickmanObituary of Hickman
People from Cache County, Utah American physicians 20th-century American inventors 1926 births 2019 deaths University System of Maryland alumni Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Washington (state) Latter Day Saints from Maryland University of Washington people American Mormon missionaries in France Mormon missionaries in Haiti American Mormon missionaries in the United States Brigham Young University people American expatriates in Israel University of Utah alumni {{Med-bio-stub