Michael E. DeBakey

Michael Ellis DeBakey (born Michel Dabaghi; September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American cardiac surgeon and vascular surgeon, scientist, and medical educator who became the chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, director of The Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, and senior attending surgeon of The Methodist Hospital in Houston, with a career spanning 75 years. Born to Lebanese Christian immigrants, DeBakey was inspired towards a career in medicine by the physicians he met at his father's drug store and he simultaneously learned sewing skills from his mother. He subsequently attended Tulane University for his premedical course and Tulane University School of Medicine to study medicine, where he developed a version of the roller pump, which he initially used to transfuse blood directly from person to person and which later became a component of the heart–lung machine. Following early surgical training at Charity Hospital, he was encouraged to complete his surgical fellowships in Europe, before returning to Tulane University in 1937. During the Second World War, he helped develop the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units and later helped establish the Veteran's Administration Medical Center Research System. DeBakey's surgical innovations included coronary bypass operations, carotid endarterectomy, artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices. He used Dacron grafts to replace or repair blood vessels and pioneered surgical repairs of aortic aneurysms, an operation he had performed on himself at the age of 97. DeBakey received a number of awards in his lifetime including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science and the Congressional Gold Medal. In addition, a number of institutions bear his name.