Pioneer Editorials

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 11 of Artificial Organs, 05 November 2012   The quest for the ideal method of myocardial protection started in the early days of cardiac surgery. This narrative is an introspection of a lifetime career dedicated to the...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 10 of Artificial Organs, 04 October 2012 After completing my internship, I got my first position as a scientific assistant at the medical clinic of the University of Munich in April 1960. Because there were many more candidates...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 9 of Artificial Organs, 11 September 2012 THE PHILOSOPHY When I was a young student of the classics in high school, I was negatively impressed by the statement Ipse dixit (meaning: he, himself said it), which, by reaction,...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 8 of Artificial Organs, 06 August 2012 It is an honor for me to be labeled “pioneer.” In my case, this meant taking the risk of doing something new. The risk was failure, but I was so caught up in caring for patients that the...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 7 of Artificial Organs, 04 July 2012   In 1956, over half a century ago, I saw my first dialysis. It is difficult to believe that any other specialty in medicine could have offered a more stimulating, exciting, or rewarding...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 6 of Artificial Organs, 04 June 2012 I first learned of Dr. René Favaloro (Fig. 1) in early 1984 when I had been diagnosed with coronary artery disease. I studied the literature and sought to learn which surgical procedure...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 5 of Artificial Organs, 09 May 2012 THE DAWN OF ARTIFICIAL HEART RESEARCH IN JAPAN In 1950, the Soviet Union succeeded in achieving “Universe Flight,” and the American President John Kennedy promoted the national project...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 4 of Artificial Organs, 10 April 2012 Real dialysis pioneers, such as John Jacob Abel, Geog Haas, Willem Johan Kolff, Nils Alwall, Georg Ganter, Arnold M. Seligman, Howard A. Frank, Jacob Fine, and others, are all deceased by...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 3 of Artificial Organs, 06 March 2012   My career trajectory in nephrology started already during my medical studies when I learned that from more than 150 L of glomerular filtrate, only about less than 1% is finally...

Originally published in Volume 36 Issue 1 of Artificial Organs, 18 January 2012 The University of Minnesota played a chief role in the development of modern heart surgery. It was there that Dr. Walton Lillehei carried out the first procedure with cross circulation. In...

Originally published in Volume 35 Issue 8 of Artificial Organs, 15 August 2011 As described in the Design News Engineering Achievement Award, I was considered an engineer for the long haul as I began working on artificial heart technology in 1966 while employed at...

Originally published in Volume 35 Issue 6 of Artificial Organs, 14 June 2011 The term “Pioneer” indicates substantial experience (“vintage”) and presumes enhanced perspective. In thinking about how I might contribute to this series, I came to the conclusion that one...

Originally published in Volume 35 Issue 5 of Artificial Organs, 20 May 2011 This narrative, to some extent a career retrospective, reflects my continuing interest in the interaction of dialysis technology and the clinical disorders it is designed to treat rather than...

Originally published in Volume 35 Issue 4 of Artificial Organs, 19 April 2011 Finding a reliable substitute for the human heart remains a goal of modern-day surgical researchers. I am fortunate to have been involved in much of the early work in this area and would...

When Belding H. Scribner, in 1960, demonstrated that lost kidney function could be repeatedly replaced by Willem J. Kolff’s life-sustaining artificial kidney, the disciplines of Nephrology and Artificial Organs were born.

In 1967, I was a clinical associate in the Cardiac Surgery Branch of the National Heart Institute. I had already been working on mechanical heart development for 7 years.

The field of artificial organs has had a very rich history of accomplishments that we have all benefited from as researchers, developers, clinicians, corporations, and most importantly patients.