Eugene nagel biography

Born in the small town of Clinton, Missouri, in 1924, Eugene “Gene” Nagel grew up during the Great Depression and as a young man fought in the European Theater during World War II.

Following the war, he finished college and began work as an electrical engineer, but he soon recognized that engineering was not his life’s work and applied to medical school. After graduating from Washington University St.

Louis, he went on to complete a residency in anesthesia at Columbia-Presbyterian.

Eugene nagel biography

It was while at Columbia that the seeds of his future EMS experience were planted – a new intervention, CPR was emerging and Gene became an early expert in the field.

After his residency, Gene became faculty at the University of Miami.

One day, a neighbor in his apartment building suffered cardiac arrest. Following an unsuccessful attempt at resuscitation, the responding Miami firefighters told him this was always the case. Gene recognized that this would never change given the lack of basic tools an