Richard Lillehei

Richard Lillehei was a pioneering American surgeon and a key figure in the development of open-heart surgery. He is best known for his work in the 1950s on techniques that allowed doctors to perform surgeries on the heart while it remained beating—this was groundbreaking since, prior to his contributions, many operations required stopping the heart. Lillehei also played a significant role in the development of the first successful heart-lung machine, which allowed surgeries to be performed safely by temporarily taking over the heart's and lungs' functions. His innovations have saved countless lives and transformed cardiovascular medicine.