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DeBakey

American  
[duh-bay-kee] / dəˈbeɪ ki /

noun

  1. Michael Ellis 1908–2008, U.S. cardiovascular surgeon and scientist.


DeBakey Scientific  
/ dəbākē /
  1. American heart surgeon and physician who developed many of the techniques, procedures, and instruments used in cardiovascular surgery. In 1966 DeBakey implanted the first totally artificial heart in a human. Two years later, he supervised the first successful multi-organ transplant, transferring a heart, both kidneys, and a lung from a single donor to four separate recipients.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Martha Gulati is a preventive cardiologist and the inaugural director of the Davis Women’s Heart Center at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

Once so labeled, patients can experience "downstream effects," said Dr. Hardeep Singh, an expert in misdiagnosis who works at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston.

From Salon • Oct. 2, 2022

Lefrak missed the birth of his first child because DeBakey had him on a 91-day tour in the cardiovascular intensive care unit, finding sleep when he could in the patient recovery rooms.

From Washington Post • Sep. 30, 2019

Here are heart surgeon O. H. ‘Bud’ Frazier; inventors Robert Jarvik, Billy Cohn and Daniel Timms; and cardiac specialists Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, whose duel over implanting the first crude devices sparked the crusade.

From Nature • Jul. 23, 2018

Founder of the Texas Heart Institute in 1962, Cooley was an integral part of that transformation, as was his one-time partner and later his bitter rival, Dr. Michael DeBakey.

From Washington Times • Nov. 29, 2016

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