Daily Vignette for 23 November -- First coronary artery bypass surgery
On November 23rd 1964, Dr. Michael DeBakey and his team performed the world's first successful coronary artery bypass graft surgery in Houston, Texas.
In the ensuing 46 years, the procedure has become ubiquitous, with coronary bypass surgeries performed every day all over the world. But it was DeBakey who pioneered the procedure, and went on to pioneer other cardiovascular surgeries including heart transplantation. By the time of his death in 2008, Michael DeBakey was acknowledged as the greatest cardiac surgeon of his time.
Michael DeBakey was born as Michel Dabaghi in Lake Charles, Louisiana to Lebanese immigrants Shaker and Raheeja Dabaghi. He obtained his undergraduate and graduate medical education at Tulane University in New Orleans, going on to internship and residency at New Orleans' Charity Hospital. From there he went on to surgical fellowships in Strassbourg France, and Heidelburg Germany, before returning to Tulane where he took up a teaching position in the Tulane Medical School. He served in the US Army during WW II and the Korean War, participating in the development of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). After the wars he was active with the Veterans Administration in the creation of the VA Medical Center Research System.
Later, during the Johnson administration, DeBakey served as the chairman of the President's commission on heart disease, cancer, and stroke. He went on to chair numerous committees of the National Instituted of Health that were focused on the improvement of national and international standards for health care facilities.
You can read more about Michael DeBakey here.
In the ensuing 46 years, the procedure has become ubiquitous, with coronary bypass surgeries performed every day all over the world. But it was DeBakey who pioneered the procedure, and went on to pioneer other cardiovascular surgeries including heart transplantation. By the time of his death in 2008, Michael DeBakey was acknowledged as the greatest cardiac surgeon of his time.
Michael DeBakey was born as Michel Dabaghi in Lake Charles, Louisiana to Lebanese immigrants Shaker and Raheeja Dabaghi. He obtained his undergraduate and graduate medical education at Tulane University in New Orleans, going on to internship and residency at New Orleans' Charity Hospital. From there he went on to surgical fellowships in Strassbourg France, and Heidelburg Germany, before returning to Tulane where he took up a teaching position in the Tulane Medical School. He served in the US Army during WW II and the Korean War, participating in the development of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). After the wars he was active with the Veterans Administration in the creation of the VA Medical Center Research System.
Later, during the Johnson administration, DeBakey served as the chairman of the President's commission on heart disease, cancer, and stroke. He went on to chair numerous committees of the National Instituted of Health that were focused on the improvement of national and international standards for health care facilities.
You can read more about Michael DeBakey here.