DeBakey, Michael Ellis (1908-2008), an American surgeon, won fame for his work with the heart and for his contributions to techniques used to replace damaged blood vessels, including the coronary bypass operation. In 1966, DeBakey and American surgeon Adrian Kantrowitz successfully implanted the first assisting heart. Inserted into the chest, this machine helps a weak heart pump blood until either the heart recovers or surgeons transplant another person’s heart. DeBakey also worked on the development of an artificial heart.
DeBakey became the first person to surgically repair an aneurysm, a condition in which the wall of a blood vessel weakens and balloons out. He replaced the weakened part of the vessel with another blood vessel (see Aneurysm). He later developed artificial blood vessels made of Dacron.
DeBakey was born on Sept. 7, 1908, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and earned an M.D. from Tulane University in 1932. He became head of the Department of Surgery at Baylor University in 1948. He served as president of Baylor College of Medicine from 1969 to 1979, then as chancellor from 1979 to 1996. DeBakey died on July 11, 2008.
