Richard Fulton Kieffer, Jr.

Kieffer, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins, grew up in Baltimore. He attended Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, where he earned a B.S. in 1941. He embarked on his medical studies at Johns Hopkins, receiving his M.D. in 1944 and graduating near the top of his class. Kieffer then spent two years at The Johns Hopkins Hospital as an intern and assistant resident in general surgery. He was greatly influenced by his father, who was also a surgeon. Military service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps took Kieffer to Japan, where his principal duty was to be chief of the surgical service of the 155th station hospital in Yokohama. Following his discharge, he returned to a residency in general surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

In 1950, Kieffer began teaching and assumed an active surgical practice, including serving as chief of surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Baltimore. He joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, accepting an  appointment as an instructor in surgery. In 1959, he was made an assistant professor; in 1964, an associate professor.

Kieffer’s principal professional specialization was in the field of noncardiac thoracic surgery. He was one of the country’s leading experts on pulmonary resection for the management of tuberculosis and a pioneer in the surgical management of cancer of the esophagus.

Kieffer retired from the faculty in 1979, a year after his son Robert Wilson Kieffer graduated from the School of Medicine.