Michael E. DeBakey (1908-2008) was a legendary American surgeon, educator, and medical statesman. During a career spanning 75 years, his work transformed cardiovascular surgery, raised medical education standards, and informed national health care policy. He pioneered dozens of operative procedures such as aneurysm repair, coronary bypass, and endarterectomy, which routinely save thousands of lives each year, and performed some of the first heart transplants. His inventions included the roller pump (a key component of heart-lung machines) as well as artificial hearts and ventricular assist pumps. He was a driving force in building Houston's Baylor University College of Medicine into a premier medical center, where he trained several generations of top surgeons from all over the world.
The National Library of Medicine holds a collection of Michael E. DeBakey Papers, which range from 1903 to 2009. The collection contains correspondence, administrative records, diaries, transcripts, publications, speeches, conference and awards material, subject files, photographs, and audiovisual media.
As part of its Profiles in Science project, the National Library of Medicine is digitizing and making available over the World Wide Web a selection of the Michael E. DeBakey Papers, for use by educators and researchers. This site provides access to the portions of the Michael E. DeBakey Papers that are now publicly available. Individuals interested in conducting research in the Michael E. DeBakey Papers are invited to contact the National Library of Medicine.
This online Exhibit is designed to introduce you to the various phases of DeBakey's medical career and professional life. It is divided into sections that focus on DeBakey's life and major contributions to cardiovascular surgery, medical education, and healthcare policy. We suggest that new visitors begin with this exhibit, which includes a small selection of documents and visuals, organized within these sections. Each section begins with a "Background Narrative," which leads to "Documents" and "Visuals."
Visitors may access additional materials through Search on the navigation bar. They may also view the materials alphabetically or chronologically by choosing Browse on the navigation bar. Documents and visuals in these lists are arranged by format and then either alphabetically by title or chronologically.
![[Portrait of Michael DeBakey, in suit, slightly slouched]. 12 April 1969.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20170125184904im_/https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/FJBBQJ~.png)