Project Bionics - interviews with pioneers echo.gmu.edu/bionics/interviews.htm
Dr. Willem Johan Kolff
Pioneer in the fields of kidney dialysis and artificial organs
PHILADELPHIA - Dr. Willem Johan Kolff, a pioneer in the fields of kidney dialysis and artificial organs, has died. He was 97.
Kolff's son Jack says he died of natural causes Wednesday at a Philadelphia care center.
Kolff was part of a team of surgeons who made worldwide headlines in 1982 by implanting an artificial heart into Seattle dentist Barney Clark at University Hospital. Clark lived for four months, then died with the heart still functioning.
In 2002, Kolff received the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, one of the highest honors in American medicine, for his work on kidney dialysis.
The nominating committee noted his developments "changed kidney failure from a fatal to a treatable disease, prolonging the useful lives of millions of patients."
Kolff's first work on the artificial heart began in 1957 at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. In 1967, he became head of the division of artificial organs at the University of Utah and director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
February 14, 1911 - February 11, 2009
Dr. Willem Johan Kolff
Memory Book
“I met Dr. Kolff in 1980 when he was invited to speak to the entire staff of the Donald S. Gilmore Research Laboratories of Upjohn. All the workers...” Read More ยป
Posted by: Henry W. Bonk Wallingford CT
