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FBR Chairman
Dr. Michael E. DeBakey
Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, chancellor emeritus of
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is the Chairman
of the Foundation for Biomedical Research. He is
internationally recognized as an ingenious medical
inventor and innovator, a gifted and dedicated teacher,
a premier surgeon, and an international medical
statesman.
While in medical school and actively
engaged in medical research, DeBakey invented the
roller pump, which became an essential component
of the heart-lung machine and helped usher in the
era of open-heart surgery. He devised many other
new surgical procedures, devices, and more than
50 instruments for the improvement of patient care.
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FBR Chairman Dr. Michael E. DeBakey
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Best known for his trailblazing efforts
in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, DeBakey was
the first to perform successful excision and graft replacement
of aneurysms of the thoracic aorta and obstructive lesions
of the major arteries. A pioneer in the development of an
artificial heart, he was the first to use a partial artificial
heart – a left ventricular bypass pump, successfully.
In 1953, DeBakey performed the first successful
carotid endarterectomy, thereby establishing the field of
surgery for strokes. In 1964, DeBakey and associates performed
the first successful aortocoronary-artery bypass with autogenous
vein graft. In 1968, he led a team of surgeons in a historic
multiple-transplantation procedure in which the heart, kidneys,
and one lung of a donor were transplanted to four recipients.
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, DeBakey
received his bachelor's, master's, and M.D. degrees from
Tulane University in New Orleans. He completed his internship
at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and his residency in
surgery at Charity Hospital at the University of Strasbourg,
France, under Prof. Rene Leriche, and at the University
of Heidelberg, Germany, under Prof. Martin Kirschner. He
served on the Tulane Medical School surgical faculty from
1937 to 1948. From 1942 to 1946, he was on military leave,
serving in the Office of the Surgeon General as director
of the Surgical Consultants' Division. He joined the Baylor
faculty in 1948, serving as the chairman of the Department
of Surgery until 1993. DeBakey was president of the College
from 1969 to 1979 and served as chancellor from 1978 to
January 1996, when he became chancellor emeritus.
DeBakey's ability to bring his professional
knowledge to bear on public policy earned him a reputation
as a medical statesman. He was a member of the medical advisory
committee of the Hoover Commission, and was chairman of
the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and
Stroke during the Johnson administration. He worked in multitudinous
capacities to improve the national and international standards
of health care. He held numerous consultative appointments,
having served an unprecedented three terms on the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council of the National
Institutes of Health and two terms as chairman of the Board
of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, which he
was instrumental in establishing.
DeBakey was a member of the most distinguished
medical societies, having served as president of many of
them. His impressive lifelong scholarship was reflected
in more than 1,400 medical articles, chapters, and books
he published on various aspects of surgery, medicine, health,
medical research, and medical education, as well as ethical,
socioeconomic, and philosophic discussions in these fields.
His Living Heart book, written for the lay public,
was a best seller. DeBakey has received some 50 honorary
degrees from prestigious colleges and universities, as well
as innumerable awards from educational institutions, professional
and civic organizations, and governments throughout the
world.
He has received honors from many Heads
of State, including the National Medal of Science; the Albert
Lasker Award for Clinical Research, the American equivalent
of the Nobel Prize; NASA's Commerical Invention of the Year
Award; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction
– the highest honor a United States citizen can receive.
- See a timeline
of Dr. DeBakey's accomplishments
- See why Dateline
NBC calls Dr. DeBakey "The King of Hearts"
Updated Feb 14, 2003
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