DR. MICHAEL E. DEBAKEY - FIRST DAY COVER SIGNED - HFSID 285403

MICHAEL E. DeBAKEY
FDC honoring Dr. Ephraim McDowell
First Day Cover signed: "Michael E. DeBakey", 6½x3¾. FDC honoring Clara Barton, postmarked Danville, Kentucky, December 3, 1959, 4-cent stamp affixed, FIRST DAY OF ISSUE. DeBakey (1908-2008, born Michel Dabaghi in Lake Charles, Louisiana), who developed the pump for the heart-lung machine in 1932, performed the first successful coronary bypass (1953) and was the first surgeon to successfully use an artificial heart pump as a left ventricular assist device in a patient (August 8, 1966 in Houston, Texas). DeBakey, who devised new cardiovascular surgical procedures, including developing Dacron artificial grafts for cardiac bypass surgery (1950-1953), and developed more than 50 instruments for the improvement of patient care, also successfully implanted a mechanical temporary heart substitute in 1967 and performed the first of his 12 heart transplants in 1968. DeBakey, the author of The Living Heart (1977) and The Living Heart Diet (1984), is also credited with developing the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H.) concept for the military (1945), which saved countless lives during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. The famed surgeon and pioneer in cardiology, who celebrated his 90th birthday and 50 years with the Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist Hospital in 1998, has been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969), National Medal of Science (1987), Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Nations (1999) and NASA's Commercial Invention of the Year Award (2002) for the DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device, based in part on space shuttle technology, and was named a "Living Legend" by Congress in 2000. Corners lightly creased. Slightly soiled on verso. Otherwise fine condition.