Blood Banks, Catheters, and Hip Replacements

Blood Banks, Catheters, and Hip Replacements

11.  Charles R. Drew (1904-1950)
The African-American surgeon pioneered improved techniques for blood storage. Early in World War II, he helped create large scale blood banks. His work led to the American Red Cross Blood Bank, though the Drew himself resigned from the Red Cross in protest of its racial segregation of blood donations.

12. David S. Sheridan (1908-2004)
David S. Sheridan--a serial entrepreneur dubbed the "Catheter King" in 1988 by Forbes Magazine--is credited with inventing the modern disposable catheter in the 1940s.

13. John Charnley (1911-1982)
The British orthopaedic surgeon pioneered hip replacement surgery. In the early 1960s, he discovered that high molecular weight polyethylene was the best material for implantable sockets. One of his early artificial hips is shown above.

14.  Willem Kolff (1911-2009)
Kolff was a bioengineer who pioneered hemodialysis and artificial organs. Under his supervision, the first "permanent" artificial heart was implanted in a patient in 1982. The Dutch native was still a distinguished professor emeritus of bioengineering, surgery and medicine at the University of Utah before his death in 2009 at age 97.

15. Paul M. Zoll (1911-1999)
Paul M. Zoll was a Harvard cardiologist who pioneered the development of heart monitors, pacemakers and defibrillators during the 1950s.

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