IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1416 
Honoring Dr. Michael DeBakey for his lifetime of accomplishments. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 8, 2008 
Mr. BOUSTANY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Honoring Dr. Michael DeBakey for his lifetime of 
accomplishments. 
Whereas Dr. Michael DeBakey, a pioneering heart surgeon, 
innovator, and educator, was born on September 7, 1908, 
and passed away on July 11, 2008, at the age of 99; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey was born and raised in Lake 
Charles, Louisiana, as the eldest of 5 children to Leba-
nese immigrants and graduated as Valedictorian from 
Lake Charles High School in 1926; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey received his bachelor’s of science 
and medical degrees from Tulane University in New Or-
leans, Louisiana, where he remained until the completion 
of his internship and residency in surgery at Charity 
Hospital; 
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•HRES 1416 IH 
Whereas in 1932, as a student at Tulane Medical School, Mi-
chael DeBakey invented the roller pump, which became 
the major component of the heart-lung machine used in 
the first open heart surgery; 
Whereas during World War II, Michael DeBakey served in 
the Army and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his 
help in developing mobile army surgical hospitals, called 
MASH units, and specialized treatment centers for re-
turning veterans while working as the director of the Of-
fice of the Surgeon General in Europe; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey moved to Houston, Texas, in 
1948, where he joined the Baylor University College of 
Medicine, to which he was appointed president in 1969, 
when he helped the school create its own identity after 
the university separated from its school of medicine; 
Whereas the Baylor College of Medicine currently accepts ap-
proximately 1,340 students per year; 
Whereas in 1949, Michael DeBakey led a movement to help 
establish the National Library of Medicine and wrote 
over 1,000 medical reports, papers, chapters, and books 
on surgery, medicine and related topics, including ‘‘The 
Living Heart’’ and ‘‘The Living Diet’’; 
Whereas in the mid-1950s, Michael DeBakey was the first 
person to perform the replacement of arterial aneurysms 
and obstructive lesions, as well as later introducing by-
pass pumps and connections to replace segments of dis-
eased arteries; 
Whereas in 1960, Michael DeBakey became a leading pioneer 
in the creation of the artificial heart used to assist pa-
tients awaiting transplants, and in 1966 he was the first 
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•HRES 1416 IH 
to successfully use the left ventricular bypass pump in a 
partially artificial heart; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey was appointed to chairman of the 
President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and 
Stroke in 1964, during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 
administration; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey was presented with the Medal of 
Freedom with Distinction in 1969 by President Johnson 
and later awarded the National Medicine of Science in 
1987; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey was recognized with Lifetime 
Achievement Awards from the Foundation for Biomedical 
Research in 1991 and the United Nations in 1999; 
Whereas in 1996, Michael DeBakey was inducted into the 
Health Care Hall of Fame, and in 2000 he was cited as 
a Living Legend by the Library of Congress; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey was the first foreign physician to 
be named an honorary member of the Russian Academy 
of Science; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey received the Commercial Invention 
of the Year award in 2002 for the invention of the 
MicroMed DeBakey VAD, in collaboration with the Na-
tional Aeronautical and Space Administration, which was 
first implanted in patients in Germany and Austria in 
1998, and later in American patients in 2000; 
Whereas Michael DeBakey performed over 60,000 heart sur-
geries during his 70-year career on a range of patients 
including, American Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyn-
don Baines Johnson, and Richard Nixon, as well as the 
Duke of Windsor, the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jor-
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