Denton Cooley
Encyclopedia
Denton Arthur Cooley is an American
heart surgeon
famous for performing the first implantation of a total artificial heart
. Cooley is also founder and surgeon in-chief of the Texas Heart Institute
, chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
, consultant in Cardiovascular Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital
, and a clinical professor of Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School
at Houston.
fraternity, played on the basketball team, and majored in Zoology. He became interested in surgery through several premed classes he attended in college and began his medical education at the University of Texas Medical Branch
in Galveston. He completed his medical degree and his surgical training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
, where he also completed his internship. At Johns Hopkins, he worked with Dr. Alfred Blalock
and assisted in the first "Blue Baby" procedure to correct an infant's congenital heart defect.
In 1946 Cooley was called to active duty with the Army Medical Corps. There, he served as chief of surgical services at the station hospital in Linz, Austria and was discharged in 1948 with the rank of captain. He then returned to complete his residency at Johns Hopkins and remain as an instructor in surgery. In 1950 he went to London to work with Lord Russell Brock.
.
In 1960, Cooley moved his practice to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
while continuing to teach at Baylor. In 1962 he founded the Texas Heart Institute with private funds and he resigned his position at Baylor
in 1969.
His skill as a surgeon was demonstrated as he successfully performed numerous bloodless
open-heart surgeries on Jehovah's Witness
patients beginning in the early 1960s.
The 1960s saw a number of advances in Cooley's career. He and his colleagues work on developing new artificial heart valves from 1962 to 1967; during that time period mortality for heart valve transplants fell from 70% to 8%. In 1969, he became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart
designed by Dr. Domingo Liotta
in a man, Hanskell Karp, who lived for 65 hours. . The next year, in 1969, "he performed the first implantation of an artificial heart in a human when no heart replacement was immediately available".
On March 13, 1972, the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society was founded at the Texas Heart Institute by the Residents and Fellows of Dr. Cooley to honor him. Founding President, Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, had envisioned this exclusive Society to foster academic, professional and personal camaraderie among cardiac surgeons in the United States and around the world through scientific seminars and symposia. There are now more than 900 cardiac surgeons from more than 50 countries around the globe who are members of the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. Its website is www.cooleysociety.com
In the HBO film Something The Lord Made
, Dr. Cooley was portrayed by Timothy J. Scanlin, Jr.
Cooley reportedly answered in the affirmative when a lawyer during a trial asked him if he considered himself to be the best heart surgeon in the world. “Don’t you think that’s being rather immodest?” the lawyer replied. “Perhaps,” Dr. Cooley responded. “But remember I’m under oath.”
Cooley filed for bankruptcy in 1988 citing real estate debts during a market downturn.
During the 2000 U.S. Presidential Elections, Dr. Cooley was asked by then candidate George W. Bush
to review VP candidate Dick Cheney
's medical records, particularly concerning the status of his chronic heart condition.
Cooley and the legendary heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey had a professional rivalry that lasted more than 40 years. They made amends in a public rapprochement on November 7, 2007, when DeBakey was 99 years old (Cooley was 87).
In addition, Cooley has authored or co-authored more than 1,300 scientific articles and 13 books.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
heart surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
famous for performing the first implantation of a total artificial heart
Artificial heart
An artificial heart is a mechanical device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used in order to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in case transplantation is impossible...
. Cooley is also founder and surgeon in-chief of the Texas Heart Institute
The Texas Heart Institute
The Texas Heart Institute is a not-for-profit cardiology and heart surgery center located within the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1962 by Dr. Denton A. Cooley, its original charter stated its purpose was “the study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels...
, chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital serves as the lead hospital for St. Luke's Episcopal Health System, and is based at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. St. Luke's Episcopal Health System also includes St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, St. Luke's The Woodlands Hospital, St. Luke's Sugar Land...
, consultant in Cardiovascular Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital is a pediatric hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.With 639 licensed beds and 465 beds in operation, Texas Children's is the largest children's hospital in the United States and is affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine as that...
, and a clinical professor of Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School
University of Texas Medical Branch
The University of Texas Medical Branch is a component of the University of Texas System located in Galveston, Texas, United States, about 50 miles southeast of Downtown Houston...
at Houston.
School and Early Career
Cooley graduated in 1941 from the University of Texas, where he was a member of the Kappa SigmaKappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...
fraternity, played on the basketball team, and majored in Zoology. He became interested in surgery through several premed classes he attended in college and began his medical education at the University of Texas Medical Branch
University of Texas Medical Branch
The University of Texas Medical Branch is a component of the University of Texas System located in Galveston, Texas, United States, about 50 miles southeast of Downtown Houston...
in Galveston. He completed his medical degree and his surgical training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine , located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., is the academic medical teaching and research arm of Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins has consistently been the nation's number one medical school in the amount of competitive research grants awarded by the National...
, where he also completed his internship. At Johns Hopkins, he worked with Dr. Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock was a 20th-century American surgeon most noted for his research on the medical condition of shock and the development of the Blalock-Taussig Shunt, surgical relief of the cyanosis from Tetralogy of Fallot—known commonly as the blue baby syndrome—with Vivien Thomas and pediatric...
and assisted in the first "Blue Baby" procedure to correct an infant's congenital heart defect.
In 1946 Cooley was called to active duty with the Army Medical Corps. There, he served as chief of surgical services at the station hospital in Linz, Austria and was discharged in 1948 with the rank of captain. He then returned to complete his residency at Johns Hopkins and remain as an instructor in surgery. In 1950 he went to London to work with Lord Russell Brock.
Major Career Events
In the 1950s Cooley returned to Houston to become associate professor of surgery at Baylor University College of Medicine and to work at its affiliate institution, the Methodist Hospital . During the 1950s, Cooley began working with Michael DeBakey. During that time he worked on developing a new method of removing aortic aneurysms, the bulging weak spots that may develop in the wall of the arteryArtery
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....
.
In 1960, Cooley moved his practice to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital serves as the lead hospital for St. Luke's Episcopal Health System, and is based at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. St. Luke's Episcopal Health System also includes St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, St. Luke's The Woodlands Hospital, St. Luke's Sugar Land...
while continuing to teach at Baylor. In 1962 he founded the Texas Heart Institute with private funds and he resigned his position at Baylor
Baylor
Baylor is a surname and the name of several places and institutions. They include:Institutions:*Baylor University in Waco, Texas*Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas*Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas...
in 1969.
His skill as a surgeon was demonstrated as he successfully performed numerous bloodless
Bloodless surgery
Bloodless surgery is a term that was popularized at the beginning of the 20th century by the practice of an internationally famous orthopedic surgeon, Adolf Lorenz, who was known as "the bloodless surgeon of Vienna." This expression reflected Lorenz's methods for treating patients with noninvasive...
open-heart surgeries on Jehovah's Witness
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
patients beginning in the early 1960s.
The 1960s saw a number of advances in Cooley's career. He and his colleagues work on developing new artificial heart valves from 1962 to 1967; during that time period mortality for heart valve transplants fell from 70% to 8%. In 1969, he became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart
Artificial heart
An artificial heart is a mechanical device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used in order to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in case transplantation is impossible...
designed by Dr. Domingo Liotta
Domingo Liotta
Domingo Santo Liotta, MD is a pioneer of heart surgery, creator of multiple cardiac prostheses including the first total artificial heart used in a human being.-Early life:...
in a man, Hanskell Karp, who lived for 65 hours. . The next year, in 1969, "he performed the first implantation of an artificial heart in a human when no heart replacement was immediately available".
Other Facts
Cooley's interests include basketball which he played in high school and golf which he became interested in during his youth and has been playing for 68 years. Among his other outside interests, Dr. Cooley played upright bass in a swing band called the Heartbeats from 1965 through the early 1970s.On March 13, 1972, the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society was founded at the Texas Heart Institute by the Residents and Fellows of Dr. Cooley to honor him. Founding President, Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, had envisioned this exclusive Society to foster academic, professional and personal camaraderie among cardiac surgeons in the United States and around the world through scientific seminars and symposia. There are now more than 900 cardiac surgeons from more than 50 countries around the globe who are members of the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. Its website is www.cooleysociety.com
In the HBO film Something The Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
, Dr. Cooley was portrayed by Timothy J. Scanlin, Jr.
Cooley reportedly answered in the affirmative when a lawyer during a trial asked him if he considered himself to be the best heart surgeon in the world. “Don’t you think that’s being rather immodest?” the lawyer replied. “Perhaps,” Dr. Cooley responded. “But remember I’m under oath.”
Cooley filed for bankruptcy in 1988 citing real estate debts during a market downturn.
During the 2000 U.S. Presidential Elections, Dr. Cooley was asked by then candidate George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to review VP candidate Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
's medical records, particularly concerning the status of his chronic heart condition.
Cooley and the legendary heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey had a professional rivalry that lasted more than 40 years. They made amends in a public rapprochement on November 7, 2007, when DeBakey was 99 years old (Cooley was 87).
Honors and awards
- Awarded the Presidential Medal of FreedomPresidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
by Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in 1984, the nation's highest civilian award - The René Leriche PrizeRené LericheRené Leriche was a famous French surgeon.-Eponymous terms:René Leriche gave his name to two syndromes:...
, the highest honor of the International Surgical Society - Awarded the National Medal of TechnologyNational Medal of TechnologyThe National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
by Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1998 - He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsSerbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsThe Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
in Department of Medical Sciences.
In addition, Cooley has authored or co-authored more than 1,300 scientific articles and 13 books.
Quotes
- "I've always felt that I did well as a student because I lacked confidence."
- "Of the many 'firsts' with which I have been involved at the Texas Heart Institute -- including the first successful human heart transplant in the United States and the first total artificial heart transplant in the world -- the achievement that may have the greatest impact on health care did not occur in the operating room or in the research laboratory. It happened on a piece of paper... when we created the first-ever packaged pricingBundled paymentBundled payment, also known as episode-based payment, episode payment, episode-of-care payment, case rate, evidence-based case rate, global bundled payment, global payment, package pricing, or packaged pricing, is defined as the reimbursement of health care providers "on the basis of expected...
plan for cardiovascular surgical procedures."
External links
- Video: Cooley Medical Pioneers Biography on Health.mil – The Military Health System provides a look at the life and work of Denton Cooley.
- Denton A. Cooley, MD. Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
- The Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society
- Find-A-Grave profile for Denton Cooley although still living his biography is on this site