<P> Not having a human donor heart available , James D. Hardy of the University of Mississippi Medical Center transplanted the heart of a chimpanzee into the chest of a dying Boyd Rush in the early morning of Jan. 24 , 1964 . Hardy used a defibrillator to shock the heart to restart beating . This heart did beat in Rush 's chest for 60 to 90 minutes ( sources vary ) , and then Rush died without regaining consciousness . Although Hardy was a respected surgeon who had performed the world 's first human - to - human lung transplant a year earlier , author Donald McRae states that Hardy could feel the `` icy disdain '' from fellow surgeons at the Sixth International Transplantation Conference several weeks after this attempt with the chimpanzee heart . Hardy had been inspired by the limited success of Keith Reemtsma at Tulane University in transplanting chimpanzee kidneys into human patients with kidney failure . The consent form Hardy asked Rush 's step sister to sign did not include the possibility that a chimpanzee heart might be used , although Hardy stated that he did include this in verbal discussions . </P>
where was the first heart transplant performed in the united states
University of Mississippi Medical Center