Shannon Diedrich Brunjes
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by Jean Brunjes
Shannon was born in Santa Cruz,
California, the only child of Marjorie Shannon Brunjes and Charles
Martin Brunjes. He attended local schools and joined the Army
after World War II, where he distinguished himself as a photographer.
After the Army, he returned to California and attended the University
of California at Berkeley. He was part of the Class of 1954 at
the University of Southern California School of Medicine and
completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at
the County-USC Hospital in Los Angeles.
Shannon had appointments to the faculty at Loma Linda University
Medical School, at that time located at L. A. County Hospital,
and at USC. His most significant achievement during this early
part of his career was his treatment of post-operative shock
following surgery to remove pheochromocytoma adrenal tumors.
For most patients, the cure (surgery) was as bad as the disease,
since survival rates were very low. Shannon identified a need
to expand blood volume before surgery, now a part of the standard
treatment that assures a high survival rate.
During these years of teaching and research, Shannon began his
romance with the computer. He identified that data could be stored,
analyzed and retrieved more easily using those (then) big machines,
and turned to computers to complete his research into heart disease
and diabetes. During the long nights in the computer lab at USC,
Shannon decided that computers were essential to medicine and
medical research, and he began to look at ways computers could
be used to further the way medical information was handled. Shannon
during this period of time produced for County Hospital one of
the first interactive pharmacy systems.
In 1968 Shannon became an associate professor at Yale University
and directed the fledgling Medical Computer Science Department
there. The research efforts at Yale were directed toward making
computers useful in the day-to-day practice of medicine, as well
as in medical research. Along with Sidney Baker, M.D., Shannon
designed an early automated medical information system at an
HMO operating in New Haven, Connecticut.
In 1976, before returning to California, Shannon became a Professor
of Computers and Medicine at Georgia Tech and Emory University
in Atlanta (joint appointment). During his academic career, Shannon
authored more than 50 papers. Following his return to the Los
Angeles area, Shannon shifted to private practice for the rest
of his medical career, retiring in 2001. After retirement, Shannon
revived his lifelong interest in photography, and began exploring
digital photography, a subject that interested him for the rest
of his life.
Shannon married Doris Hammond while he was still in college.
They had three children, Caroline Louise, born in 1954, Dorothy
Ann, born in 1955, and Richard, born in 1956. Ricky died of leukemia
when he was six and a half years old. Shannon and Doris divorced
in 1963, and he married Jean Taylor in 1966. Their children are
James Martin, born in 1969 and Margaret Shannon, born in 1976.
There are six grandchildren.
In addition to his academic achievements, Shannon's life was
notable for his wide-ranging interests in all things scientific
and mathematical, his imaginative view of the world and his quirky
sense of humor. His reputation as an often outrageous punster
is legend with family and friends. He was a pilot of small aircraft,
a gifted photographer and a crafter of intricate wooden puzzles.
Shannon's creative vision allowed him to construct solutions
to problems affecting the health of generations of patients,
but these achievements only describe one part of who Shannon
was. His legacy also includes the love he gave to his children
and grandchildren and his enduring marriage.