Creative people from my country, Michael DeBakey

Prepared by: Therese Mansour
The most famous heart surgeon in the world learned his skill from his grandmother’s fishing line!

The king of his profession

His crown is creativity and passion, his scepter is vitality and humility.

A world-class surgeon and a global innovator in the field of cardiology.
He has worked tirelessly throughout his life to discover new methods that use modern technology in the field of cardiac surgery.
He is characterized by extreme vitality despite being over ninety years old.
He is the American professor of Lebanese origin Michael DeBakey, the undisputed pioneer of modern medicine. He is an inventor and innovator, a talented and dedicated creator and teacher, a world-class surgeon, and is considered, without a doubt, the first to establish the foundations of open-heart surgery in its current concept.

Birth of a Creator

Michael DeBakey was born in the southern town of Jdeideh Marjeyoun in 1906. At the age of two, he immigrated with his family to the United States of America, where he continued his primary and secondary education in local schools, then enrolled in the School of Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans in the same state. After graduating, he spent his training years at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, then in the Department of Surgery at the University of Strasbourg in Paris and the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
Since joining the university, Michael DeBakey has been involved in research and studies, and invented the circular pump (1932), which later became part of a machine that performs the work of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery. He was also granted patents for a large number of medical tools and techniques that have contributed to saving the lives of millions of people around the world. Perhaps the most important of these techniques is the use of special fabrics (Dacrongroft), which he prepared with the help of his wife on a sewing machine in his home in 1952, to connect the arteries of a patient in need, and to inspire research centers, medical industries and laboratories to produce many of them after a while. This creativity in the science of surgery, says Dabghi, he learned from his elderly Lebanese grandmother who used to hold him in her lap while she wove the most wonderful stitches with her hook, and he used the same tactic and the same skill in designing surgical stitches.
During World War II, Dr. Dabghi volunteered for military service, and was appointed Director of the Surgical Guidance Department of the US Surgeon General’s Office. His research and studies during that period led to the establishment of the Mobile Military Surgical Hospital (MASH units). Later, he contributed to the establishment of special surgical centers to treat soldiers returning from war, which later became known as the “Medical Centers System for Returning Soldiers”.

Fame without borders

Over the years, Dr. DeBakey has gained worldwide fame and has been an advisor to all US presidents over the past fifty years, as well as to other heads of state from around the world. He also contributed to the establishment of the National Library of Medicine in America, which includes the most important, accurate and academic medical references and documents.
During his last visit to Russia (1996), where he supervised the coronary artery bypass surgery for President Boris Yeltsin, various newspapers around the world wrote about him and he appeared in all media outlets. The number of heart surgeries he has performed is estimated at 36,000, in addition to training thousands of doctors currently working around the world. In 1976, his students founded the Michael DeBakey International Surgical Society. His name has also been given to a large number of organizations, research and study centers, and projects established with the aim of serving the public health of people from all countries and peoples.
Professor DeBakey has received the highest honors and appreciation from the most prestigious and reputable medical institutes and colleges in the world. He was also honored by educational, civil and governmental institutions. In 1969, he received the highest honor an American citizen can receive, the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. President Reagan also awarded him the National Medal of Science in 1987.
In the same year, King Leopold of Belgium and Princess Lilian honored him by unveiling a bust of him. The princess said at the unveiling ceremony: “Dr. DeBakey has shown leadership in the fight against cardiovascular disease worldwide. This statue will remain a symbol, a hope and an encouragement to all who come to this place. This statue stands in a hall of the applied hospital in Houston, but in this place also stands Dr. DeBakey himself, who also stands as a center, a hope and a legend.”

Lebanon’s beacon in the world

Debaqi currently holds the position of chief surgeon at the Applied Hospital, the largest wing of the Texas Medical Center, and is also the dean of the Baylor Medical Institute, a pioneer in medical studies and research. He is also working with the American space agency NASA to develop a small, self-contained artificial heart.
Dr. Sam Zakhem, advisor to the late US President Ronald Reagan, told Elaph about him: “Debaqi speaks little, but he is sharp-witted and always present. I feel that the Arabic language is most beautiful when it flows from his lips. He is humble and travels and treats the poor before the rich.”
US President Nixon told him during his honoring in 1973 at the White House: “America owes you, let me hug you on behalf of millions.” At that time, Michael’s rare tears fell, which American broadcaster Larry King commented on while talking about Beirut in March 2005, saying: “I wished his tears fell into my palm, so I could wipe my troubled heart and heal.”
In appreciation of his creativity and contributions, the University of Balamand granted him, during his last visit to Lebanon (last October), the title of the Michael DeBakey Chair for Cardiovascular Research, Sciences and Diseases, a prestigious medical title and a recognition for all who follow in his footsteps and excel in their research and contributions.
Dr. Michael DeBakey has given humanity a lot, a lot, especially his home country Lebanon, which he remains proud of belonging to, and is familiar with everything related to it and does not hesitate to visit it whenever he has the opportunity.
Lebanon did not only give America Michael DeBakey, but also many distinguished and creative scientists, each of whom represents a beacon in the path of humanity.

Michael DeBakey’s most important achievements:

• 1932: Debaghi ​​the student develops a “circular pump” for use in the device that performs the work of the heart and lungs during surgical operations.
• 1949: Dr. DeBakey leads a movement to demand the establishment of a National Library of Medicine in the United States of America.
• 1950-1953: He developed a machine used in heart artery surgery.
• 1953: Dr. DeBakey performs the first surgery to open a blocked artery.
• 1956: He performed the first surgery to repair a hole in the heart.
• 1960: DeBakey begins work on developing an artificial heart.
• 1963: The first person to perform a surgical operation via television communication.
• 1964: The first coronary artery bypass surgery, and in the same year he was appointed Dean of the Presidential Commission for Heart, Cancer and Brain Diseases.
• 1977: He published his book “The Living Heart”.
• 1978: Establishment of the Michael DeBakey Center for Studies and Research in “Biomedicine.” This is a science that studies the ability of human beings to live in spacecraft and the like.
• 1985: Establishment of the Dabghi Heart Center.
• 1996: His name was included among the “famous medical professionals.”