Denton Cooley

Denton A. Cooley (born August 22, 1920) is a pioneering American heart surgeon.

He graduated in 1941 from the University of Texas and went on to complete his medical degree and his surgical training at Johns Hopkins. Following his graduation he went to London to work with Lord Russell Brock.

He performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States in 1968. In 1969, he became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart designed by Dr Domingo Liotta in a man.

Cooley and his associates have performed more than 100,000 open heart operations--more than any other group in the world. Denton Cooley has been in a band of doctors called the heartbeats. He played the string bass. In highschool, he played basketball. When he was younger, he discovered that he very much enjoyed golf. He has been golfing for 66 years. In the HBO film Something the Lord Made, Dr. Cooley was portrayed by Timothy J. Scanlin, Jr.

Dr. Denton Cooley and the legendary heart surgeon, Dr. Michael E. DeBakey had a professional rivalry that lasted more than 50 years. They recently made amends in a public rapprochement on November 7, 2007 when DeBakey was 99 years old and Cooley was 87.

Honors and awards

 * The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award
 * The Rene Leriche Prize, the highest honor of the International Surgical Society
 * The National Medal of Technology
 * He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Department of Medical Sciences.

In addition, Cooley has authored or co-authored more than 1,300 scientific articles and 13 books.

Quotes

 * "I've always felt that I did well as a student because I lacked confidence."