Michael DeBakey | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Michel Dabaghi (1908-09-07)September 7, 1908 Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | July 11, 2008(2008-07-11) (aged 99) |
| Education | Tulane University (BS,MD) |
| Occupation | Cardiovascular surgeon |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | Lois DeBakey (sister) Selma DeBakey (sister) |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Surgeon |
| Institutions | Tulane University |
| Research | |
| Awards |
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Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was an American/Lebanesegeneral andcardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor ofBaylor College of Medicine at theTexas Medical Center inHouston, Texas.[1] His career spanned nearly eight decades.
Born toLebanese immigrants, DeBakey was inspired to pursue a career in medicine by the physicians that he had met at his father's drug store, and he simultaneously learned sewing skills from his mother. He subsequently attendedTulane University for his premedical course andTulane University School of Medicine to study medicine. At Tulane, he developed a version of theroller pump, which he initially used totransfuse blood directly from person to person and which later became a component of theheart–lung machine. Following early surgical training atCharity Hospital, DeBakey was encouraged to complete his surgical fellowships in Europe, before returning to Tulane University in 1937. DuringWorld War II, he worked in the Surgical Consultants Division of the Office of the Army Surgeon General, and later was involved in the establishment of theVeterans Administration.
DeBakey's surgical innovations included novel procedures to repairaortic aneurysms anddissections, the development ofventricular assist devices, and the introduction of prosthetic vascular substitutes. DeBakey received a number of awards, including theAlbert Lasker Award, thePresidential Medal of Freedom, theNational Medal of Science, and theCongressional Gold Medal. In addition, a number of institutions bear his name.
Michael DeBakey was born Michel Dabaghi (Arabic:ميشيل دبغي) on September 7, 1908 inLake Charles, Louisiana. His parents, Shiker (Arabic:شاكردباغي) and Raheeja Dabaghi (Arabic:راجيها داباغي) (which was anglicized to DeBakey) were immigrants fromMarjeyoun, Lebanon although they did not meet until both were living in the United States. Shiker, who had been a traveling salesman, settled in Lake Charles in the early 1900s and began to establish retail businesses, particularly general and drug stores. Both of them spoke French. Young Michael helped out with manual chores and keeping the books.[2] DeBakey was the eldest of five children. His brother Ernest also became a physician, specializing in general and thoracic surgery. His sisters Lois and Selma were also scholarly, and eventually joined their eldest brother at Baylor College of Medicine as faculty members in medical communications. Another sister, Selena, died in 1952.
As a child, DeBakey learned to play the saxophone and was taught by his mother to sew,crochet,knit[3] andtat.[4] He could sew his own shirt by the age of 10. He also became intrigued with theEncyclopædia Britannica[2] and is said by colleagues to have read it from beginning to end. He learned French and German and participated in aBoy Scout troop. He won awards for vegetables he had grown in his garden.[5]
DeBakey attended Tulane University, where he enrolled in a six-year program that combined undergraduate and medical school. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1930 and a M.D. in 1932.
During his final year in medical school at Tulane University,[4] and prior to the establishment ofblood banks, DeBakey adapted old pumps and rubber tubing and developed a version of theroller pump. He used the pump totransfuse blood directly and continuously from person to person, and this later became a component of theheart–lung machine.[3][6]
Between 1933 and 1935, DeBakey remained in New Orleans to complete his internship and residency in surgery atCharity Hospital, and in 1935, he received aMS for his research onstomach ulcers. As was the trend for ambitious training surgeons at the time, and as his mentorsRudolph Matas andAlton Ochsner had done before him, DeBakey was encouraged to complete his surgical fellowships at theUniversity of Strasbourg, France, under ProfessorRené Leriche, and at theUniversity of Heidelberg, Germany, under ProfessorMartin Kirschner.[5]
Returning to Tulane Medical School, DeBakey served on the surgical faculty from 1937 to 1948.[5]
With his mentor, Alton Ochsner, in 1939 DeBakey postulated a strong link between smoking andcarcinoma of the lung, a hypothesis that other researchers supported as well.[5]
During theSecond World War, DeBakey served in theUS Army in the Surgical Consultants' Division in the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army. In 1945, he was given theLegion of Merit award.[7] Although sometimes credited in recent years for establishing the system of Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals, research has shown that DeBakey actually led the effort to prevent the establishment of these units.[why?][8]
Remaining in the U.S. Army for a year after the end of the war, he was instrumental in the ongoing care of wounded servicemen and helped establish the Veterans Administration and the Medical Follow-Up Agency.[9][3] After the war, he returned to Tulane.[7]
DeBakey joined the faculty of Baylor University College of Medicine (now known as theBaylor College of Medicine) in 1948, serving as chairman of the surgical department until 1993. DeBakey was president of the college from 1969 to 1979, and served as its chancellor from 1979 to January 1996, when he was named chancellor emeritus. He was 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 andHouston Methodist Hospital.[citation needed]
DeBakey was a member of the medical advisory committee of theHoover Commission and was chairman of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke during theJohnson Administration. He worked in numerous capacities to improve national and international standards of health care. Among his numerous consultative appointments, he served 3 terms on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council of theNational Institutes of Health.[10]
DeBakey hired surgeonDenton Cooley at Baylor College of Medicine in 1951. They collaborated until Cooley's resignation from his faculty position at the college in 1969.[11]
In 1980 DeBakey was a consultant in the care ofMohammad Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Shah of Iran, who was in the terminal stages of lymphoma. Due to hypersplenism, the Shah underwent splenectomy in Cairo on March 28, 1980, with DeBakey supervising a team of surgeons. At operation, the Shah was found to be harboring widely metastatic disease. Several complications developed during the surgery such as an injury to the tail of the pancreas that led to complications in the postoperative period, including a subphrenic abscess and pneumonia. He died due to complications after surgery.[1]
In the 1950s, DeBakey's observations and classification ofatherosclerotic blood vessels permitted innovations in the treatments of vascular disease.[7] His pursuit of the ideal material to make grafts led him to a department store that had run out of nylon, so he settled onpolyethylene terephthalate (Dacron) and bought a yard of the material. Using his wife's sewing machine, DeBakey produced the first arterialDacron grafts to replace or repair blood vessels.[9][3] He subsequently collaborated with a research associate from thePhiladelphia College of Textiles and Science to create a knitting machine for making grafts.[7]
DeBakey performed the first successfulcarotid endarterectomy in 1953. A year later, he pioneered techniques in grafts for the various parts of theaorta.[7]
DeBakey was among the earliest surgeons to performcoronary artery bypass surgery. A pioneer in the development of anartificial heart, he was among the first to use an external heart pump successfully in a patient – aleft ventricular bypass pump.[5]
In 1958, to counteract narrowing of an artery caused by anendarterectomy,[9] DeBakey performed the first successful patch-graftangioplasty. 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.[citation needed]
In the 1960s, DeBakey and his team of surgeons performed some of the early instances of surgeries on film.[6]
DeBakey founded and chaired theFoundation for Biomedical Research (FBR), whose goal is to promote public understanding and support for animal research. DeBakey made wide use of animals in his research.[12] He antagonizedanimal rights andanimal 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.[13] 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."[14]
DeBakey continued to practice medicine until his death in 2008 at the age of 99. His contributions to the field of medicine spanned the better part of 75 years. DeBakey operated on more than 60,000 patients, including several heads of state.[15] DeBakey and a team of American cardiothoracic surgeons, including George Noon, supervised quintuple-bypass surgery performed by Russian surgeons on Russian presidentBoris Yeltsin in 1996.[16] On 29 April 1999, DeBakey oversaw anaorta-coronary bypass surgery of Azerbaijani presidentHeydar Aliyev inCleveland, Ohio during Aliyev's visit to the United States.[17]
In late 2005, DeBakey suffered anaortic dissection.[18] Years earlier, DeBakey had pioneered the surgical treatment that now bears his name to treat this condition.[4] A sharp chest pain sent him toHouston Methodist Hospital, where the diagnosis was confirmed by a CT scan.[19] 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'sethics committee approved the operation; on February 9–10, 2006, DeBakey at age 97 became the oldest patient ever to undergo the surgery for which he was responsible.[18] The operation by George Noon[19] to repair his aorta with aDacron graft, similar to one he had pioneered decades earlier,[18] 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.[16][19]
DeBakey became a member of numerous learned societies, gained 36 honorary degrees and was the recipient of hundreds of awards.[7]
He received thePresidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. In 1987, PresidentRonald Reagan awarded him theNational Medal of Science.[20] He was a Health Care Hall of Famer, a Lasker Luminary and a recipient of the United Nations Lifetime Achievement Award and thePresidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Award of theFoundation for Biomedical Research and in 2000 was cited as a "Living Legend" by theLibrary of Congress. On April 23, 2008, he received theCongressional Gold Medal from PresidentGeorge W. Bush, Speaker of the HouseNancy Pelosi and Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid.[21][22][23]DeBakey's major awards include:[5][7][24]
Others awards include:
DeBakey married Diana Cooper after returning from Europe in 1937, and they had four sons: Michael, Denis, Ernest and Barry.[5] After Diana died in 1972, he married German actress Katrin Fehlhaber, with whom he had a daughter, Olga-Katarina.[3]
DeBakey has been described as a "tough taskmaster" by colleagues and trainees.[32] Former trainee Jeremy R. Morton described how “he could be sweet as dripping honey when it came to patients and medical students, but could be brutal with surgical residents."[3]
DeBakey died from natural causes at Houston Methodist Hospital on July 11, 2008, at the age of 99.[4][33] Afterlying in repose inHouston's City Hall, the first ever to do so,[34] DeBakey received a memorial service at theCo-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on July 16, 2008.[35] He was granted ground burial atArlington National Cemetery by theSecretary of the Army.[36] On January 21, 2009, DeBakey became the first posthumous recipient of theDenton A. Cooley Leadership Award.[37]
In 1976, DeBakey's trainees students founded the Michael E. DeBakey International Cardiovascular Surgical Society, which later changed its name to the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Society.[38] Every two years, the Michael E. DeBakey Surgical Award is given.[7][39]
The Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, given by theLasker Foundation since 1946, was renamed theLasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award in DeBakey's honor in 2008.[40]
In early 2008, DeBakey attended the groundbreaking for the new Michael E. DeBakey Library and Museum at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston,[41] which honors his life, work and dedication to care and teaching. The museum officially opened on Friday, May 14, 2010.[42]
In honor of DeBakey, the DeBakey Medical Foundation, in conjunction withBaylor College of Medicine, annually selects recipients of the Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Excellence in Research Awards.[43] 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 atTexas Children's Cancer Center.[44]
The foundation helped to establish the Michael E. DeBakey, Selma DeBakey and Lois DeBakey Endowed Scholarship Fund in Medical Humanities atBaylor University. The scholarship designates award recipients as "DeBakey Scholars" in recognition of the legacy of the DeBakey family.[45]
TheDeBakey High School for Health Professions, Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, and theMichael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston at theTexas Medical Center inHouston are named after DeBakey. He had a role in establishing the Michael E. DeBakey Heart Institute at the Hays Medical Center in Kansas. Several atraumatic vascular surgical clamps andforceps that DeBakey introduced also bear his name.[46] The Michael E. DeBakey Institute atTexas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, founded as a collaboration betweenTexas A&M, the Baylor College of Medicine and theUT Health Science Center at Houston for cardiovascular research, was named after DeBakey.[47]
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 those fields. In addition to his scholarly writings, DeBakey co-authored popular works includingThe Living Heart,The Living Heart Shopper's Guide andThe Living Heart Guide to Eating Out. His publications include:
DeBakey worked on his first book withGilbert Wheeler Beebe after World War II:
