Michael Debakey Hypothesized Wartime Medicine

Michael Debakey was a famous American cardiovascular surgeon, medical educator, and scientist. He was born on September 7, 1908 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and died on July 11, 2008, in Houston, Texas. Debakey attended Tulane University in New Orleans where he received his Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1932 he received an M.D. degree from the Tulane University school of Medicine. After completing his surgical fellowships at the University of Strasbourg and at the University of Heidelberg, Debakey returned back to Tulane where he served on the surgical faculty from 1937 to 1948. From 1942 to 1946, he served in World War II where he helped to revolutionize wartime medicine by supporting the doctors closer to the front lines. This improved the survival rate of countless wounded U.S soldiers and resulted in the great development of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units in the Korean War.
While Debakey had many great accomplishments over the years, we know him best for one specific invention. When he was just 23 years old and still attending Tulane medical school, Debakey invented the infamous roller pump. The roller pump provided the continuous flow of blood throughout operations. This made open-heart surgery possible. In 1939, Debakey hypothesized a strong link between smoking and carcinoma of the lung and was one of the first to perform a coronary artery bypass surgery. DeBakey was also the first to utilize an external heart pump successfully in a patient. The DeBakey High School for Health Professions, the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston are all named after him for his great contributions to