July 15, 2008
In Memoriam: Michael DeBakey, M.D., FACS
UNOS honors the life and achievements of Michael DeBakey, M.D., FACS, who has passed away at the age of 99.
"The life-long contributions of Dr. Michael DeBakey to the field of cardiovascular medicine and surgery should be celebrated as a miraculous triumph of his determination and innovation," said OPTN/UNOS President Robert Higgins, M.D., M.S.H.A. "His groundbreaking surgical techniques and management of complex disease have literally saved thousands of lives. He truly was a legendary figure in modern American medicine."
During his unprecedented career of more than seventy years, Dr. DeBakey established fundamental practices that revolutionized cardiac surgery and medicine, including pioneering efforts in heart transplantation. In April, Dr. DeBakey was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush; he had been honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson nearly forty years earlier.
Dr. DeBakey had many career interests and achievements, including many innovations in the fields of emergency surgery and open heart surgery. In his lengthy service with the Baylor College of Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital, he participated in some of the earliest heart transplant procedures ever performed. He also trained and mentored countless heart transplant surgeons and physicians who continue to save and enhance thousands of lives each year.
Dr. DeBakey was an honorary co-chair of UNOS' Mission for Life fundraising campaign begun in 1999, which successfully raised funds for UNOS' new headquarters building. (The other co-chair was Dr. Joseph Murray, who performed the world's first long-term successful kidney transplant in 1954.) In announcing his involvement with the UNOS campaign, Dr. DeBakey commented, "When I first began practicing medicine, the idea of removing a failing organ and replacing it with a healthy one was sheer fantasy. But that did not stop me or a handful of other scientists from pursuing the dream... We must continue building on our past successes if we are to save more lives through organ transplantation in the future."
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