Robert Koffler Jarvik (born May 11, 1946) is an American
scientist
A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...
,
researcher
Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...
and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
known for his role in developing the Jarvik-7
artificial heart
An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, exper ...
.
Early life
Robert Jarvik was born in
Midland, Michigan
Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...
, to Norman Eugene Jarvik and Edythe Koffler Jarvik, and raised in
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 202 ...
. He is the brother to Jonathan Jarvik, a biological sciences professor at
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, as well as the nephew of
Murray Jarvik, a
pharmacologist
Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemic ...
who was the co-inventor of the
nicotine patch
A nicotine patch is a transdermal patch that releases nicotine into the body through the skin. It is used in nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), a process for smoking cessation. Endorsed and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FD ...
.
Jarvik is a graduate of
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
. He earned a master's degree in
medical engineering
Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...
from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
.
["Milestones". ''Rime Magazine'', March 2, 2009 p.18]
After being admitted to the
University of Utah School of Medicine
The University of Utah School of Medicine is located on the upper campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1905 and is currently the only MD-granting medical school in the state of Utah.
History
The school began ...
, Jarvik completed two years of study, and in 1971 was hired by
Willem Johan Kolff
Willem Johan "Pim" Kolff (February 14, 1911 – February 11, 2009) was a pioneer of hemodialysis, artificial heart, as well as in the entire field of artificial organs. Willem was a member of the Kolff family, an old Dutch patrician fa ...
, a Dutch-born physician-inventor at the University of Utah,
[ who produced the first dialysis machine, and who was working on other artificial organs, including a heart. Jarvik received his M.D. in 1976 from the University of Utah. Jarvik is a medical scientist, and did not complete an internship or residency and has never been licensed to practice medicine.
]
Career
Jarvik joined the University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
's artificial organs program in 1971, then headed by Willem Johan Kolff
Willem Johan "Pim" Kolff (February 14, 1911 – February 11, 2009) was a pioneer of hemodialysis, artificial heart, as well as in the entire field of artificial organs. Willem was a member of the Kolff family, an old Dutch patrician fa ...
, his mentor. At the time, the program used a pneumatic artificial heart design by Clifford Kwan-Gett
Clifford Stanley Kwan-Gett is an Australian-born Chinese American engineer, physician, and artificial heart pioneer.
Kwan-Gett was born as Clifford Gett in 1934 in Emmaville, New South Wales, a small tin mining town in the Australian bush. His fat ...
that had sustained an animal in the lab for 10 days. Kolff assigned Jarvik to design a new heart that would overcome the problems of the Kwan-Gett heart, eventually culminating with the Jarvik-7 device.
In 1982, the team carried out an artificial heart implant - the second ever, 13 years after Domingo Liotta and Denton Cooley's first in 1969. William DeVries first implanted the Jarvik-7 into retired dentist Barney Clark at the University of Utah on December 1, 1982. Clark required frequent visits to the hospital for the next 112 days, after which he died. During frequent press conferences to update the patient's condition, Jarvik, along with DeVries, briefed the world's media on Clark's condition. The next several implantations of the Jarvik-7 heart were conducted by Humana
Humana Inc. is a for-profit American health insurance company based in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2021, the company ranked 41 on the Fortune 500 list, which made it the highest ranked (by revenues) company based in Kentucky. It has been the thir ...
, a large health care insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
company. The second patient, William J. Schroeder, survived 620 days. In 1983, Jarvik and DeVries received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
.
In 2006, Jarvik began appearing in television commercials for Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...
's cholesterol
Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell memb ...
medication Lipitor. Two members of Congress, as part of their campaign against celebrity endorsements, began an investigation as to whether his television advertisements constitute medical advice given without a license to practice medicine. One commercial depicted Jarvik rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...
, he did not row himself, and a body double
In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stun ...
was used. Later, Jarvik said that he had not taken Lipitor until becoming a spokesman for the company. On February 25, 2008, Pfizer announced that it would discontinue its ads with Jarvik.
Personal life
Jarvik has been married twice. He has a son and daughter with his first wife, Salt Lake City writer and journalist Elaine Jarvik. In 2011 she and her daughter wrote the play, ''A Man Enters'', inspired by Jarvik's absent relationship with his children since their divorce.
Jarvik has been married to ''Parade'' magazine columnist Marilyn vos Savant
Marilyn vos Savant (; born Marilyn Mach; August 11, 1946) is an American magazine columnist who has the highest recorded intelligence quotient (IQ) in the ''Guinness Book of Records'', a competitive category the publication has since retired. S ...
since August 23, 1987.
Contrary to some sources, Jarvik is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
.[Skousen, Paul B.; Moon, Harold K. (November 1, 2005)]
''Brother Paul's Mormon Bathroon Reader''
Cedar Fort, p. 39. Archived at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
References
Inline citations
General references
*
*
External links
Jarvik Heart
Official website.
Google Patents link to Winchell Patent for Artificial Heart
Pfizer Launches New Lipitor Effort
MSNBC article on Jarvik and Pfizer
Congress Probes Doctor's Role in Drug Ad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvik, Robert
1946 births
American inventors
Living people
People from Midland, Michigan
People from Stamford, Connecticut
Syracuse University alumni
Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
University of Utah School of Medicine alumni
Physicians from Michigan
Physicians from Connecticut
20th-century American physicians