James Cimino

James E. Cimino, M.D. (1928-2010) was a physician who specialized in palliative care. He is best known for his invention of the Cimino fistula and for his work as an administrator at Calvary Hospital into the Palliative Care Center it is today.

Cimino did his residency in Buffalo, in internal medicine, then moved back to the Bronx to work at the VA Medical Center where he started a program on dialysis. He developed techniques for employing Arteriovenous fistula in patients with chronic renal failure, which led to a presentation in 1966 at the convention of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs. His presentation at first was met with indifference, but eventually was established as an important contribution to the field.