- Pierre Grondin
Pierre Grondin (
August 18 ,1925 -January 17 ,2006 ) was a Canadian cardiac surgeon who was one of the first doctors to perform a successful heart transplant.Education and career
Grondin was awarded a
Doctor of Medicine degree from theUniversité Laval in 1951, after which he went on to obtain a specialist’s certificate in cardiac surgery and a fellowship from theAmerican College of Surgeons in San Francisco in 1960. He began his career as a surgeon at the Hôpital Ste-Marie de Trois-Rivières. In 1971, he joined the faculty of medicine of theUniversité de Montréal as clinical professor. After nearly 15 years as head of its surgical division, Dr. Pierre Grondin left the Montreal Heart Institute in 1978 to occupy the same position as head of cardiothoracic surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Miami, Florida. He would return to Canada in 1990 to start a cardiac surgery program at the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Quebec City and in 1995, at the age of 70, retired.Achievements and later life
Dr. Grondin was one of the pioneers in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery in his locale. In collaboration with other surgeons, he organized the surgery department at the
Montreal Heart Institute ; he was the department's head from 1963 to 1975. During this time, he was appointed Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine ofSanto Domingo . He was also responsible for agreements between the Université de Montréal and its counterparts in Liège andMadrid . In the course of his career, he became the recipient of several prominent awards, including the Prix Lenègre from the Fondation Nativelle in France, and theOrder of Canada medal. In May 1968, at the Montreal Heart Institute, he performed the first successful heart transplant in Canada.To date, over 300 cardiac transplants have been performed at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI). Through Grondin's leadership, the MHI built a surgical team that is now known worldwide for its expertise in cardiovascular
pathology and its commitment to research and teaching.Grondin died in
Shawinigan, Quebec on January 17, 2006 at the age of 80. He is survived by his 5 children: Louis, Jean, Marie-Pierre, Bernard, and Michel.See also
*
Christiaan Barnard External links
* [http://www.icm-mhi.org/en/index.html Montreal Heart Institute]
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