when was the first successful heart transplant performed
Christiaan Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant on December 3, 1967,[1][2] and the second overall heart transplant (James Hardy did a xenotransplant in 1964[3]). Growing up in Beaufort West, Cape Province, he studied medicine and practised for several years in his native country.[4] As a young doctor experimenting on dogs, Barnard developed a remedy for the infant defect of intestinal atresia. His technique saved the lives of ten babies in Cape Town and was adopted by surgeons in Britain and the United States.[5] In 1955, he travelled to the United States and was initially assigned further gastrointestinal work by Owen Wangensteen.[6] Vince Gott introduced him to the heart-lung machine, and Barnard was allowed to transfer to the service run by open heart surgery pioneer Walt Lillehei.[7] Upon returning to South Africa in 1958, Barnard was appointed head of the Department of Experimental Surgery at the Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town.[8]