Leonard Lee Bailey (1942–2019) was an American surgeon who garnered international media attention in 1984 for transplanting a baboon's heart into a human infant. Bailey was born on August 28, 1942, in

Takoma Park, Maryland Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea C ...

. In 1964, he graduated from

Columbia Union College Washington Adventist University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Takoma Park, Maryland. History Washington Adventist University was established in 1904 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Washington Training College. ...

, and he earned a medical degree from

Loma Linda University Loma Linda University (LLU) is a private Seventh-day Adventist health sciences university in Loma Linda, California. , the university comprises eight schools and a Faculty of Graduate Studies. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist educatio ...

, School of Medicine in 1969. During the 1970s, during his residency at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, Bailey observed that many children died from congenital heart diseases. This led him to return to Loma Linda University in 1976 as assistant professor at the School of Medicine. There he performed more than 200 experimental heart transplants on young mammals so he could see if there was the possibility of transplantation in young mammals. On October 26, 1984, Bailey and his team at

Loma Linda University Medical Center Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) is an academic hospital in California's Inland Empire region. Opened more than 100 years ago, it has a trauma center that admits over one million patients yearly, around 900 faculty physicians and ove ...

transplanted a baboon's heart into

Baby Fae Stephanie Fae Beauclair (October 14, 1984 – November 15, 1984), better known as Baby Fae, was an American infant born in 1984 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. She became the first infant subject of a xenotransplant procedure and first s ...

, as she became known to the media. This was supported by many, but it caused a lot of controversy on many groups because it was considered unethical. Baby Fae died 21 days later. Her case is still discussed to this day. She died at age 32 days. In 1988, Bailey received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award presented by Awards Council member

Michael DeBakey Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College ...

at a ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee. Bailey became recognized for transplantation and all types of pediatric and infant-open heart surgeries. Bailey died on May 12, 2019, of neck and throat cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Leonard Lee American Seventh-day Adventists Seventh-day Adventists in health science Physicians from Maryland 20th-century surgeons 20th-century American physicians 1942 births 2019 deaths People from Takoma Park, Maryland Loma Linda University alumni American transplant surgeons Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from throat cancer