Dr. Watkins is Assoc. Dean of a prestigious School of Medicine and full Professor of Cardiac Surgery, where he is the first African American to achieve these positions. In 1966 he integrated the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, becoming the first black ever admitted and the first black to graduate from the institution. In 1970, he went to Johns Hopkins Hospital as a surgical intern and in 1978 became the first black chief resident in cardiac surgery at that institution. Between 1973 and 1975 he developed his research interest at the Harvard Medical School Department of Physiology. There he defined the role of the renin-angiotensin system during congestive heart failure. This and other work led to the clinical use of angiotensin blockers in the treatment of congestive heart failure today. He performed the first human implantation of the automatic implantable defibrillator in February of 1980 and subsequently developed several different techniques for the implantation of this device. To date, over 1 million devices have been implanted and the lives of approximately 2/3 of these patients have been saved with this treatment. He has also helped develop the cardiac arrhythmia service at Hopkins where various new open heart techniques are now being performed to treat patients at risk of sudden cardiac death. His interest in coronary heart disease in blacks led to his research in that area.