Coalition Statement Regarding Loss of Renowned Surgeon
Categories: NASA Space and Science
July 12, 2008 – HOUSTON, TX – The Coalition for Space Exploration, a collaboration of space industry businesses and advocacy groups whose mission is to educate and inform the public on the value and benefits of space exploration, issued the following statement regarding the death of Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey, world-famous cardiovascular surgeon and member of the Coalition’s Board of Advisors.
“We at the coalition are saddened by the loss of Dr. DeBakey,” stated Mary Engola, Chairwoman of the Coalition’s Public Affairs Team. “His service to humankind and his pioneering accomplishments in using NASA-derived technology in the development of life-saving medical devices is truly extraordinary.”
Throughout his esteemed career, DeBakey established famous medical-care procedures, such as the military’s Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit, and invented myriad medical devices, some resultant from NASA technology that significantly enhanced the care and treatment of heart patients worldwide. For example, a fuel pump used on the Space Shuttle eventually led to the development and use of the MicroMed-DeBakey ventricular assist device, a tiny heart-assist pump used to help patients awaiting transplants.
NASA, in keeping with its mission of transferring space-based technology to the private sector, wanted to license its pump to a company that could further develop and test it, bringing it into public use. The result was DeBakey’s remarkable battery-operated pump – two inches long, one inch in diameter and weighing less than four ounces – used as a long-term "bridge" to transplant, or as a permanent device to help patients toward recovery and a more normal life.
Dr. DeBakey, who died at age 99 of natural causes, was a heart surgeon, innovator, medical educator and international medical statesman. He was the chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and director of The DeBakey Heart Center of Baylor and the Methodist Hospital. “We laud his vast accomplishments and the decades of dedicated service to the medical community and the health and well-being of all,” added Engola.
“We at the coalition are saddened by the loss of Dr. DeBakey,” stated Mary Engola, Chairwoman of the Coalition’s Public Affairs Team. “His service to humankind and his pioneering accomplishments in using NASA-derived technology in the development of life-saving medical devices is truly extraordinary.”
Throughout his esteemed career, DeBakey established famous medical-care procedures, such as the military’s Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit, and invented myriad medical devices, some resultant from NASA technology that significantly enhanced the care and treatment of heart patients worldwide. For example, a fuel pump used on the Space Shuttle eventually led to the development and use of the MicroMed-DeBakey ventricular assist device, a tiny heart-assist pump used to help patients awaiting transplants.
NASA, in keeping with its mission of transferring space-based technology to the private sector, wanted to license its pump to a company that could further develop and test it, bringing it into public use. The result was DeBakey’s remarkable battery-operated pump – two inches long, one inch in diameter and weighing less than four ounces – used as a long-term "bridge" to transplant, or as a permanent device to help patients toward recovery and a more normal life.
Dr. DeBakey, who died at age 99 of natural causes, was a heart surgeon, innovator, medical educator and international medical statesman. He was the chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and director of The DeBakey Heart Center of Baylor and the Methodist Hospital. “We laud his vast accomplishments and the decades of dedicated service to the medical community and the health and well-being of all,” added Engola.
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