Michael Ellis DeBakey was a world-renowned Lebanese American cardiac
surgeon, innovator, scientist, medical educator, and international medical
statesman. DeBakey was 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. He is
known for his work on the treatment of heart patients and for his role in the
development of the mobile army surgical hospital.
Early life He was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana,
on September 7, 1908, to Lebanese immigrants Shaker and Raheeja Dabaghi.
Medical career DeBakey received his BS degree from
Tulane University in New Orleans. In 1932, he received an M.D. degree from
Tulane University School of Medicine. He remained in New Orleans to complete his
internship and residency in surgery at Charity Hospital. DeBakey completed his
surgical fellowships at the University of Strasbourg, France, under Professor
René Leriche, and at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, under Professor
Martin Kirschner. Returning to Tulane Medical School, he served on the
surgical faculty from 1937 to 1948. From 1942 to 1946, he was on military leave
as a member of the Surgical Consultants' Division in the Office of the Surgeon
General of the Army, and in 1945 he became its Director and received the
Legion of Merit. DeBakey helped develop the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units
and later helped establish the Veteran's Administration Medical Center Research
System. He joined the faculty of Baylor University College of Medicine in 1948,
serving as Chairman of the Department of Surgery until 1993. DeBakey was
president of the college from 1969 to 1979, served as Chancellor from 1979 to
January 1996; he was then named Chancellor Emeritus. He was also Olga
Keith Wiess and Distinguished Service Professor in the Michael E. DeBakey
Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and Director of the DeBakey
Heart Center for research and public education at Baylor College of Medicine
and The Methodist Hospital. DeBakey's ability to bring his
professional knowledge to bear on public policy earned him a reputation as a
medical statesman. He was a member of the medical advisory committee of the
Hoover Commission and was chairman of the President's Commission on Heart
Disease, Cancer and Stroke during the Johnson Administration. He worked in
numerous capacities to improve national and international standards of health
care. Among his numerous consultative appointments was a three-year membership
on the National Advisory Heart and Lung Council of the National Institutes of
Health. DeBakey served in the U.S. Army during
World War II and helped to revolutionize wartime medicine by supporting the
stationing of doctors closer to the front lines. This concept greatly
improved the survival rate of wounded soldiers and resulted in the development
of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units during the Korean War.
Medical pioneer At age 23, while still in medical school
at Tulane University, DeBakey developed the roller pump, the significance of
which was not realized until 20 years later when it became an essential
component of the heart-lung machine. The pump provided a continuous flow of blood
during operations. This, in turn, made open-heart surgery possible.
With his mentor, Alton Ochsner, he postulated in 1939 a strong link between
smoking and carcinoma of the lung. DeBakey was one of the first to perform
coronary artery bypass surgery, and in 1953 he performed the first successful
carotid endarterectomy. A pioneer in the development of an artificial heart,
DeBakey was the first to use an external heart pump successfully in a patient – a
left ventricular bypass pump. DeBakey pioneered the use of Dacron
grafts to replace or repair blood vessels. In 1958, to counteract
narrowing of an artery caused by an endarterectomy, DeBakey performed the
first successful patch-graft angioplasty. This procedure involved
patching the slit in the artery from an endarterectomy with a Dacron or vein
graft. The patch widened the artery so that when it closed, the channel of the
artery returned to normal size. The DeBakey artificial graft is now used
around the world to replace or repair blood vessels.
In the 1960s, DeBakey and his team of surgeons were among the first to record
surgeries on film. A camera operator would lie prone atop a surgical film
stand made to DeBakey's specifications and record a surgeon's eye view of the
operating area. The camera and lights were positioned within three to four
feet of the operative field, yet did not interfere with the surgical team.
DeBakey worked together with Denton Cooley while they both practiced at
Baylor College of Medicine. According to the April 10, 1970, issue of Life
magazine, they had a disagreement associated with Cooley's apparently
unauthorized implantation of the first artificial heart in a human. DeBakey had
set the surgery for Friday, April 4, 1969, and because of a schedule conflict
relating to a speech in Corpus Christi, Texas, rescheduled it for the following
Monday. Cooley then rescheduled back to the original date and performed the
surgery while DeBakey was out of town. The press covered the surgery and Cooley
gained much publicity. DeBakey was angry at Cooley for his actions. Cooley then
left Methodist Hospital and signed on with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
across the street. Their disagreement turned into a bitter feud that lasted
for decades; the two men reconciled in 2007, but DeBakey made it public by
inviting Cooley to his Congressional Gold Medal ceremony. On May 2, 2008,
DeBakey inducted Cooley into the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical
Society, presenting him with a leather-bound copy of the first medical
article the two co-authored and a lifetime achievement award.
DeBakey continued to practice medicine into an age well after most others have
retired. DeBakey practiced medicine until the day he died. His contributions
to the field of medicine spanned the better part of 75 years. DeBakey
operated on more than 50,000 patients, including several heads of state.
DeBakey and a team of American cardiothoracic surgeons, including
George Noon, supervised quintuple bypass surgery performed by Russian surgeons on
Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1996. In 1969, the Baylor College of Medicine
separated from Baylor University under his direction. The DeBakey High School
for Health Professions, the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center and the
Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston at the Texas
Medical Center in Houston are named after him. He had a role in establishing
the Michael E. DeBakey Heart Institute at the Hays Medical Center in Kansas.
Several atraumatic vascular surgical clamps and forceps that he introduced
also bear his name. DeBakey founded the Michael E. DeBakey Institute at Texas
A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences as a collaboration
between Texas A&M, the Baylor College of Medicine and the UT Health Science
Center at Houston to further cardiovascular research.
DeBakey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 even though his name
was later found on Nixon's Enemies List. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan awarded
him the National Medal of Science. He was a Health Care Hall of Famer, a
Lasker Luminary, and a recipient of The United Nations Lifetime Achievement
Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. He was given
the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Foundation for Biomedical Research and
in 2000 was cited as a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress. On April 23,
2008, he received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush,
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Health issues On December 31, 2005, at age 97, DeBakey
suffered an aortic dissection. Years prior, DeBakey had pioneered the
surgical treatment of this condition, creating what is now known as the
DeBakey Procedure. He was hospitalized at The Methodist Hospital in Houston,
Texas. DeBakey initially resisted the surgical
option, but as his health deteriorated and DeBakey became unresponsive, the
surgical team opted to proceed with surgical intervention. In a
controversial decision, Houston Methodist Hospital Ethics Committee
approved the operation; on February 9–10, he became the oldest patient ever
to undergo the surgery for which he was responsible. The operation lasted seven
hours. After a complicated post-operative course that required
eight months in the hospital at a cost of over one million dollars, DeBakey was
released in September 2006 and returned to good health. Although DeBakey had
previously refused surgery, he later stated that he was grateful that his
surgical team performed the operation. In the Spring of 2008, Dr. DeBakey
attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Michael E. DeBakey Library and
Museum at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, honoring his life, work,
and dedication to care and teaching. The museum officially opened on Friday, May
14, 2010. = Death=
On July 11, 2008, DeBakey died at The Methodist Hospital in Houston at age 99;
the cause of death remained unspecified. DeBakey was preceded in death by his
first wife, Diana Cooper DeBakey who died of a heart attack in 1972 and by
his sons, Houston lawyer Ernest O. DeBakey, who died in 2004, and Barry E.
DeBakey, who died in 2007. His brother Ernest, a general surgeon in Mobile,
Alabama, died in 2006. In addition to his wife, Katrin, and their daughter,
Olga, DeBakey was survived by sons Michael and Denis, as well as sisters
Lois and Selma DeBakey, who are both medical editors and linguists at Baylor.
After lying in repose in Houston's City Hall, being the first ever to do so,
DeBakey received a memorial service at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on
July 16, 2008 Dr. DeBakey was granted ground burial in Arlington National
Cemetery by the Secretary of the Army. On January 21, 2009, DeBakey became the
first posthumous recipient of The Denton A. Cooley Leadership Award.
Views on animal research DeBakey founded and chaired the
Foundation for Biomedical Research, whose goal is to promote public
understanding and support for animal research. DeBakey made wide use of
animals in his research. He antagonized animal rights and animal welfare
advocates who oppose the use of animals in the development of medical treatment
for humans when he claimed that the “future of biomedical research; and
ultimately human health” would be compromised if shelters stopped turning
over surplus animals for medical research. Responding to the need for
animal research, DeBakey stated that "These scientists, veterinarians,
physicians, surgeons and others who do research in animal labs are as much
concerned about the care of the animals as anyone can be. Their respect for the
dignity of life and compassion for the sick and disabled, in fact, is what
motivated them to search for ways of relieving the pain and suffering caused
by diseases." DeBakey Medical Foundation
In honor of Debakey, the DeBakey Medical Foundation, in conjunction with Baylor
College of Medicine, annually selects recipients of the Michael E. DeBakey,
M.D., Excellence in Research Awards. The awards recognize faculty who have
published outstanding scientific research contributions to clinical or
basic biomedical research. The awards are funded by the DeBakey Medical
Foundation and have funded researchers from the Center for Cell and Gene
Therapy at Texas Children's Cancer Center.
The Foundation helped to establish the Michael E. DeBakey, Selma DeBakey and
Lois DeBakey Endowed Scholarship Fund in Medical Humanities at Baylor University.
The scholarship designates award recipients as "DeBakey Scholars" in
recognition of the legacy of the DeBakey family.
Honors Lifetime Achievement Awards from the
Academy of Medical Films American Heart Association
Children Uniting Nations Encyclopædia Britannica
Foundation for Biomedical Research International College of Angiology
International Health and Medical Film Festival
Honorary Director of Research!America Tulane Medical Alumni Association
U.S. Army Legion of Merit American Medical Association Hektoen
Gold Medal Rudolph Matas Award in Vascular Surgery
International Society of Surgery Distinguished Service Award
Leriche Award American Medical Association
Distinguished Service Award Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical
Research American Medical Association Billings
Gold Medal Exhibit Award American Heart Association Gold Heart
Award Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Academy of Sciences 50th Anniversary Jubilee Medal
Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Foreign Member
Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief’s Medal and Citation
American Surgical Association Distinguished Service Award
Admiral of the Texas Navy Academy of Surgical Research Markowitz
Award Association of American Medical Colleges
Special Recognition Award Honorary Doctorate of Science from
Universidad Francisco Marroquin [4] American Legion Distinguished Service
Award Honorary President of the International
Society for Rotary Blood Pumps Special Award for Space Technology
Utilization Premio Giuseppe Corradi Award for
Surgery and Scientific Research Russian Military Medical Academy, Boris
Petrovsky International Surgeons Award and First Laureate of the Boris
Petrovsky Gold Medal Grau de Grande Oficial da Ordem de
Santiago de Espada, Portugal, 1998 Scientific Achievement Award of The
American Association for Thoracic Surgery
John P. McGovern Compleat Physician Award
Russian Academy of Sciences Foreign Member
Texas Senate and House of Representatives, Adoption of resolutions
honoring DeBakey for 50 years of medical practice in Texas
American Medical Association Virtual Mentor Award
American Philosophical Society Jonathan Rhoads Medal
Library of Congress Bicentennial Living Legend Award
Villanova University Mendel Medal Award Houston Hall of Fame
NASA Invention of the Year Award MUSC Lindbergh-Carrel Prize
Lomonosov Large Gold Medal, Russian Academy of Sciences
Congressional Gold Medal First person ever to lie in state in the
Houston City Hall Rotunda The Denton A. Cooley Leadership Award
Publications As a lifelong scholar, DeBakey's
writings are reflected in his authorship or co-authorship in more than 1,300
published medical articles, chapters and books on various aspects of surgery,
medicine, health, medical research and medical education, as well as ethical,
socio-economic and philosophic discussion in these fields. Many of
these are now considered classics. In addition to his scholarly writings, he
is a best-selling author, having co-authored such popular works as The
Living Heart, The Living Heart Shopper's Guide and The Living Heart Guide to
Eating Out. Some of the references: M. E. DeBakey: The living heart. Charter
Books, 1977; Putnam Publishing Group, 1983
M. E. DeBakey: The Living heart diet. New York: Raven Press/Simon and
Schuster, 1984 M. E. DeBakey: New living heart. Adams,
1997 Michael DeBakey and Antonio Gotto: The
Living Heart in the 21st Century. Prometheus, 2012
DeBakey worked on his first book with Beebe after the Second World War:
M. E. DeBakey and G. W. Beebe: Battle Casualties Incidence, Mortality, and
Logistic Considerations, 1952 See also
Cardiovascular surgery Heart transplantation
References External links
Video: DeBakey Medical Pioneers Biography on Health.mil – The Military
Health System provides a look at the life and work of Michael DeBakey.
DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine
Methodist DeBakey Heart Center at The Methodist Hospital
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Michael E. DeBakey International
Surgical Society DeBakey Institute for Comparative
Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices at Texas A&M University
Lasker Luminary Dr. Michael DeBakey The Man on the Table Was 97, but He
Devised the Surgery – The New York Times In Moscow in 1996, a Doctor's Visit
Changed History – The New York Times Michael E. DeBakey at Find a Grave
The Michael E. DeBakey Papers – Profiles in Science, National Library of Medicine