Paul W. Sanger completed his residency in 1936 and moved to Charlotte to set up his surgical practice. Dr. Sanger was the first surgeon in the Piedmont to perform lobectmies and pneumonectomies, not only for turberculosis but also for lung cancer.

In the 1950s, Dr. Frederick Taylor joined the practice, forming the partnership Sanger and Taylor. During this time Dr. Sanger became more and more interested in the new and rapidly developing branch of vascular and cardiac surgery. He was constantly seeking to improve existing technology and medical procedures, attested to by his work with synthetic vascular grafts used to replace human blood vessels.

In 1956 Dr. Sanger set his sights on establishing a cardiac surgical center in Charlotte, and recruited Francis Robicsek, a cardiac surgeon from Hungary. The association of these three doctors brought about a great upsurge in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery in Charlotte. They performed the first congenital open-heart operation at Charlotte Memorial Hospital and followed it with the first operations on different heart valves. From then on, they performed heart operations, for both congenital and acquired defects, with increasing frequency at Charlotte Memorial and Mercy Hospitals.

The 1960s and 70s were times of growth and innovation for Sanger, Taylor & Robicsek, with new surgeons joining the practice and expanding the scope of procedures performed. The first coronary bypass in western North Carolina was performed by Dr. Harry Daughtry, who later went on to perform Charlotte's first successful heart transplant in 1986 along with Dr. Robicsek and Dr. Alan Thomley. Dr. Sanger died in 1968, and the partnership honored its founder by renaming itself The Sanger Clinic.

The cardiology department of Sanger was initiated in 1971 with the addition of Dr. Norris Harbold. Dr. Harbold performed the first coronary balloon angioplasty in North Carolina in 1982, and was also responsible for beginning nuclear stress testing in Charlotte.

Dr. Harbold's groundbreaking work in invasive cardiology meant that Sanger would have to add more cardiologists, and in the 1970s Dr. Donald Hall, Dr. Robert Svenson and Dr. Charles Elliot joined the Clinic. Dr. Hall worked to expand invasive cardiology and angioplasty, and also set up the clinic's high-risk lipid clinic.

Dr. Svenson's pioneering work in electrophysiology led him to the leadership post of the Laser and Applied Technologies Laboratory at Carolinas Medical Center. Under his direction, Carolinas Heart Institute became one of the nation's leaders in investigating new catheter techniques for the mapping and ablation of arrhythmias.

Dr. Elliot's interest in non-invasive diagnostics studies and cardiac catheterization led toward the development of Sanger's non-invasive laboratory, and established one of the nation's first and largest mobile cardiac catheterization program. This service offered invasive cardiac diagnostic procedures to patients in their local communities.

In 1974 Dr. Robert Jackson joined The Sanger Clinic and established a separate Pediatric department to treat children and adolescents for congenital and acquired pediatric heart disease. Dr. Donald Riopel joined Sanger in 1984 to become Chief of Pediatric Cardiology, and led the clinic to establish a preventive cardiology clinic.

In the late 1970s surgeons Dr. Joseph Cook and Dr. Jay Selle joined the practice, adding greatly to the volume and diversity of the surgical practice. Dr. Cook concentrated primarily on introducing modern techniques to congenital cardiac surgery, while Dr. Selle established what became one of the region's most successful arrhythmia surgery practices.

In the early 1980s Dr. Mark Stiegel joined the practice and established one of the busiest and strongest neonatal and congenital heart surgery services in the Carolinas. In 1989, Dr. Stiegel performed the first pediatric heart transplant in western North Carolina on an 11-year old boy. This was the beginning of the pediatric heart transplant program at Carolinas Heart Institute. In 1990, the first infant heart transplant was performed.

The cardiology department continued to grow and contribute to the group. Dr. Alan Thomley established the cardiac transplantation service at Carolinas Medical Center. Dr. Samuel Zimmern was the second electrophysiologist to join the cardiology section, and later participated in the placement of the first automatic implantable cardiac defibrillator (AICD)-a new device for the prevention of sudden death in patients with severe ventricular arrhythmias.

Dr. John Gallagher joined Sanger as director of electrophysiologic laboratories in 1984, and was one of the first physicians in the world to develop techniques for the localization of abnormal pathways in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

From 1985 through 1989 Sanger grew exponentially, and many new cardiologists were recruited. Drs. Hadley Wilson, Charles Simonton, Glen Kowalchuk and Robert Haber came to the clinic with skills in interventional procedures, and later performed the first percutaneous valvuloplasty in Western North Carolina, and the first excimer laser coronary angioplasty and directional coronary atherectomy in the Carolinas.

Drs. John Fedor, Tom Smith and Paul Colavita came to Sanger with extensive research experience in electrophysiologic studies expanding the role of catheter ablation and device therapy to more patients. Dr. Smith has also introduced new forms of catheter ablative techniques for the cure of certain forms of arrhythmias in children.

Drs. John Cedarholm, Thomas Kelley, and Hadley Wilson established Sanger's nuclear cardiology department, and began performing the clinic's first in-house thallium stress testing in 1991.

The success of the mobile catheterization laboratory led to the opening of many of our regional offices. Dr. Harry Hicklin joined Sanger in Rock Hill, Dr. Doug Boyette in Shelby, Dr. Phil Iuliano in Monroe and Dr. Peter Ashline in Boone. Dr. Dan Sugarman and Dr. Dan Koehler also merged their Lake Norman practice with Sanger. These offices have continued to thrive adding new physicians and offering new services to these communities over the years.

Dr. Herbert Stern joined the Pediatric cardiology practice in 1990, and has advanced interventional procedures in the catheterization lab to repair congenital heart defects in children and adults.

In the spring of 2005, Sanger became part of Carolinas HealthCare System, the largest hospital system in the Carolinas and the fourth largest hospital in the nation. Sanger has had a longstanding relationship with the hospital, including joint efforts such as the Carolinas Heart Institute and partnering in outreach projects such as Heart of a Woman. The integration of the two institutions will allow the combination of resources to reach new levels of effectiveness in pioneering techniques and treatments in the fast-changing area of heart disease.

Sanger has certainly changed a lot over the last 60 years. But some things will never change-our commitment to being at the forefront of new techniques and procedures, our commitment to the communities where we live and practice, and above all our commitment to compassionate patient care. We are proud of our history, but our eyes are firmly fixed on the future-- providing the Carolinas simply the best, most comprehensive cardiovascular care possible.