Michael DeBakey: Pioneering Heart Surgeon Dies at 99

Michael DeBakey was an American cardiovascular surgeon. Born on September 7, 1908, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, he studied at Tulane University.

He invented a roller pump for blood transfusion as a student, pioneered the use of Dacron grafts to replace diseased arteries and helped develop mobile army surgical hospitals (MASH). He performed the first successful coronary artery bypass operations and developed a heart pump. He operated on more than 60,000 patients and trained thousands of surgeons.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2005 he survived a ruptured aorta with a procedure he had developed. He died in Houston on July 11, 2008, at age 99.

Achievements: Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969), Congressional Gold Medal (2008).

Birth: September 7, 1908 - Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Profession: Surgeon.

Interesting Facts: He helped develop the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH, units.