Iconic “Baby Fae” Surgeon Leonard Bailey Dies at Age 76

Leonard Bailey, MD, the renowned Loma Linda University Health surgeon who garnered international media attention in 1984 for transplanting a baboon’s heart into a human infant known as “Baby Fae,” the research from which spawned human-to-human infant heart transplants and other cardiac treatment breakthroughs, died on Sunday, May 12, 2019, at the age of 76 following a battle with cancer.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://spectrummagazine.org/news/2019/iconic-baby-fae-surgeon-leonard-bailey-dies-age-76
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Rest in peace, Dr. Bailey. You have lived a life of purpose and have given a chance at life to thousands.

I remember that photo of all the children/babies with fondness. :slight_smile:

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I met Dr. Bailey in the early 1980’s when the husband of one of my colleagues at Moreno Valley Unified School District survived what would probably have been a surgery leading to his death, when Dr. Bailey, realizing the likely outcome, proceeded to perform a procedure he had read about in a French medical journal, but never seen done in person. My colleague’s husband lived for many more years, in reasonable health. What a trailblazer, and a genuinely kind man.

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