What was michael debakey famous for
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National Space Society Governor Michael DeBakey, M.D. Biography
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., was chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine, and director of The DeBakey Heart Center of Baylor and the Methodist Hospital.
DeBakey’s surgical career earned him world renown as a surgeon, innovator, medical educator, and international medical statesman.
While still a medical student, he devised a pump that, years later, became one of the essential components of the heart-lung machine that made open-heart surgery possible. He developed more than 50 surgical instruments.
Best known for his innovations in treating cardiovascular diseases, DeBakey was the first to do successful excision and graft replacement of arterial aneurysms and obstructive lesions, particularly on the carotid artery and aortic arch. A pioneer in the development of an artificial heart, he was the first to use a heart pump successfully in a patient. He also conceived the idea of lining a bypass pump and its connections with Dacron velour.
In 1953, DeBakey performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy, t
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World-Renowned Cardiac Surgeon: Michael DeBakey
Years ago, while I was working on a travel assignment in Houston at the Texas Medical Center, I would pass Baylor College of Medicine on my way to the hospital. I always saw a sign for DeBakey Library and Museum. One night, I looked it up online and saw you could go and see all that was the life and career of world-renowned cardiac surgeon Michael Ellis DeBakey, MD. I wasn’t doing cardiac surgery at the time, but having a love for all things OR, I knew of Dr. DeBakey and that he had invented instruments still used in today’s surgery.
I was in absolute awe when I toured the museum. There were replicas of the ORs where Dr. DeBakey first performed cardiac surgery, walls containing the hundreds of instruments he had invented, and a gallery of all the prestigious people he met over the years. There was so much more to the Father of Cardiac Surgery than I ever knew.
Today, you’ll hear “DeBakeys!” called out in ORs all over the world. Any scrub tech or nurse will know these are pickups, but who is the man behind this commonly used instru
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Dr. Michael DeBakey is probably the only physician in history whose name is a household word. Most of his fame derives from his surgical prowess in the development of cardiovascular surgery. However great that accomplishment, many others are noteworthy as well. Through his vision and boundless vitality, he built the Baylor College of Medicine from an undeveloped medical school to an internationally renowned biomedical institute. His untiring efforts were a stimulus to energize the development of the entire Texas Medical Center. Through his leadership, the National Library of Medicine became a reality. While serving in the Surgeon General's Office during World War II, he was influential in establishing the Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit. He also helped in developing the Veterans Administration hospital system.
Dr. DeBakey had unlimited energy, which he diverted toward scholarly pursuit. He published approximately 1,600 articles and books. Expectedly, the majority of his publications were directed at experimental and clinical surgery. However, they included many ot
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