DR. MICHAEL E. DEBAKEY - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/28/1978 - HFSID 17857

MICHAEL DeBAKEY
DeBakey signed this letter to Robert H. Tom in 1978. It accompanied two photographs autographed for Tom's friend and was typed on letterhead from the Baylor College of Medicine, where DeBakey was president.
Typed letter signed "Michael E. DeBakey". 1 page, 7¾x11, on letterhead of the Office of the President, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas. April 28, 1978. Addressed to Mr. Robert H. Tom, Elmhurst, New York. In full: "Dear Mr. Tom: In accordance with your recent request, I am enclosing two photographs [not included], which I have inscribed for you and your friend, Vincent Paschall. With them go my best wishes for good health and complete fulfillment. Sincerely yours, Michael E. DeBakey, M. D. gp Enclosures". 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. Fine condition.