Heroes and Cultural Identity Project

SCE Heroes - Christiaan Barnard

Christiaan Neethling Barnard.

Hero of Heart Surgery

Christiaan Barnard was born on November 8, 1922, in the small country town of Beaufort West South Africa. He received his first degree from the University of Cape Town medical school, where he graduated as a doctor.

I chose Christiaan Barnard as my scientific hero because he was the first doctor to successfully transplant a human heart. This was carried out on December 3 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa. This was a massive achievement in medicine as it showed that we could prolong life from another. Unfortunately the patient died shortly after his transplant as the immunosuppressive drugs caused pneumonia. This was a huge milestone and only the beginning. Two weeks later Barnard conducted another transplant, this patient survived for 19 months.

As Barnard continued in cardiac transplantation he devised a method called heterotopic heart transplant which he was the first to carry out, this type of transplant was more successful. He is also credited with developing a new design for artificial heart valves.

The advantages of one doctor trying the unknown are that they discovered they could prolong life through transplantation of the heart from a brain dead patient to a living one. Through this there was a report carried out by Harvard medical school stating the terms of 'brain dead' so that heart transplantations could be carried out with no consequences.

Christiaan Barnard also wrote his first biography 'one life' in 1970, 'second life' in 1993 he then continued to write medical and fictional books.

Christiaan Barnard died in September 2001 whilst on holiday in Cyprus ironically they thought he died of a heart attack but an autopsy showed that it was an acute asthma attack.

Leah Kennedy is a science student following a one year university access course in biological sciences.