Association of University Cardiologists
Home
Constitution and
Bylaws
Upcoming
Meetings
Officers
Membership
Roster
Deceased
Members
Membership Nomination
Abstract Forms
How to Contact Us
Ivan L. Bunnell, M.D.
1941 - 2010
Dr. Ivan L. Bunnell, a pioneer in cardiology medicine in Western New York, died Saturday, February 20, in Canterbury Woods, Amherst, after a brief illness. He was 92.
Born in Waterbury, Conn., Dr. Bunnell earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College. He entered UB’s medical school in 1938 as a student assistant in physiology, and in 1941 earned a master’s and in 1943 a medical degree.
In 1941, he married Alice DeBisschop, also of Waterbury.
Dr. Bunnell did his internship and residency at E. J. Meyer Memorial Hospital. Between 1941 and 1946, he served in the Army and from 1946 to 1948 in the Public Health Service in Kansas City, Mo.
Dr. Bunnell established the area’s first adult cardiac catheterization laboratory in 1948 at Buffalo General Hospital with the late Dr. David G. Greene, his medical partner for 43 years.
He and Dr. Greene introduced angiography as a way of detecting heart blockages during the early days of their practice, a development preceded by Dr. Bunnell’s traveling to Sweden to buy equipment and work with a physician there who was a leader in the use of radiology in heart care at that time.
Dr. Bunnell also conceived the world’s first complex-angled X-ray view of the coronary arteries in 1973, a major development that changed the X-ray equipment industry. He was one of the first physicians to recognize that a similar technique could be used in the study of renal disease, and he wrote a book on the topic.
By 1972, the Buffalo General angiology laboratory and surgical teams had earned an international reputation. The physicians in 1983 began performing angioplasties, a procedure to open clogged arteries that has since become commonplace.
Dr. Bunnell retired in 1988 but continued as a UB clinical professor emeritus. He also was active in Hospice Buffalo.
In 2006, he wrote and delivered a presentation about pioneering the field of cardiology in Buffalo.
Dr. Bunnell was an accomplished artist. In the 1960s, he designed a silk-screen print of Buffalo landmarks that he gave to visitors from around the world as a gift. He was a watercolorist, as well, and his paintings have been exhibited in Canterbury Woods, where Dr. Bunnell and his wife have lived since 1999.
Music was a large part of his life. As an undergraduate at Middlebury, he was the accompanist for the Glee Club. He sang with several local male singing groups. He and his wife were regulars at Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra concerts. He also enjoyed jazz and opera.