Company Profile
CHI Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center
Company Overview
The Division of Cardiopulmonary Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support has been a leader in the world of transplant and circulatory support surgery. The first successful cardiac transplantation in the United States was performed at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center by Dr. Denton Cooley in 1968. The cardiac transplant program was renewed at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s in 1982. Under the leadership of Dr. O.H. Frazier, a total of more than 1,400 heart transplants and over 1,200 VAD implants have been performed at THI/BSLMC, making it one of the world’s highest volume programs. Currently, under the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey A. Morgan and Dr. Masahiro Ono, the program remains a leader in the field of surgery for the failing heart and lungs.
Company History
Since the early 1960’s when Dr. DeBakey obtained the first federal grant to develop an artificial
heart, Baylor has remained a world leader in the surgical treatment of heart failure. The
expertise of Dr. Frazier, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as the former division
chief Dr. George P. Noon and colleagues, led to the development of continuous flow (nonpulsatile)
LVADs, the most common in worldwide clinical use today. The pumps developed
by Dr. Frazier at THI include the HeartMate, the first implantable LVAD approved by the
FDA; the HeartMate II, the first continuous flow pump approved by the FDA; the HeartWare,
the first centrifugal force continuous flow pump; and the Jarvik 2000, the first pump to
demonstrate the feasibility of blood-washed bearings and the cornerstone of all subsequent continuous flow LVAD development.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
MISSION: Baylor College of Medicine is a health sciences university that creates knowledge and applies science and discoveries to further education, healthcare and community service locally and globally.