In Memoriam:

Dr. Michael E. DeBakey
September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008

On July 11, 2008, internationally renowned surgeon and inventor, Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, died from natural causes at the age of 99. Over his
70-year career, Dr. DeBakey performed more than 60,000 heart surgeries, invented more than 50 surgical instruments and was often in the media spotlight for his work with heads of state and celebrities.

On April 8, 2008, President
George Bush presented
Dr. DeBakey with the
Congressional Gold Medal
for a lifetime of achievement
in medicine.

On April 8, 2008, President George Bush presented Dr. DeBakey with the Congressional Gold Medal for a lifetime of achievement in medicine. Dr. DeBakey, best known for his trailblazing innovations in treating cardiovascular disease, performed the first successful use of a left ventricular assist device in 1966.

In 1984, at the Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. DeBakey and Dr. George Noon performed a heart transplant on NASA engineer David Saucier. That event led to the development of the DeBakey VAD through the combined efforts of Drs. DeBakey and Noon, NASA, Baylor College of Medicine and Houston-based MicroMed Cardiovascular, Inc.

In 1998, the first implant of the DeBakey VAD was performed at the German Heart Institute Berlin in Germany, directed by Prof. Roland Hetzer. In June 2000, Dr. DeBakey himself performed the first implant of this VAD in a U.S. patient at Methodist Hospital in Houston.

“It has been a privilege and an honor to work with such a great man,” said Robert Benkowski, CEO of MicroMed Cardiovascular. “Without Dr. DeBakey’s vision and active contributions, we would not have been able to develop a VAD of this size and capability. The world is a better place because of Dr. DeBakey and he is an inspiration to us all.”

Today, the modern version of the MicroMed VAD weighs 92 grams and is designed to pump 1-10 L/min. There have been more than 440 implants of the DeBakey VAD worldwide.

MicroMed received CE Mark approval for the adult DeBakey VAD on April 27, 2001, and later for its pediatric version for children as small as 40 lbs. In 2004, the pediatric VAD received FDA approval and the adult version is currently in an FDA-approved clinical trial.

Visit the memorial page for Dr. DeBakey at the Baylor College of Medicine web site – http://www.bcm.edu