Brave Hearts: Pioneering Cardiologists Join Forces

Texas Heart Institute’s first-ever clinical cardiology practice promises to further Denton Cooley’s legacy.

Dr. Denton Cooley

At the, ahem, heart of Houston’s world-renowned Medical Center is a commitment to research, education and patient care, as exhibited by surgeons like Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley. The latter — the surgeon responsible for implanting the world’s first artificial heart — founded the Texas Heart Institute in 1962, and today, THI announces that Cooley’s legacy of historic breakthroughs and innovative research and education programs will be furthered through the Texas Heart Medical Group.

The new clinical practice, helmed by a dozen of the city’s best cardiologists with specialties that range from electrophysiology to cardiac imaging, begins seeing patients today at its office in the St. Luke’s Medical Tower. Collectively, the doctors speak nine languages fluently, a multicultural makeup that speaks to the Med Center’s glowing global reputation.

The founding physicians are “eager to blaze a new trail and practice top-tier cardiovascular medicine,” says THI Medical Director Emerson Perin. “In the spirit of the Cooley legacy, we are joining together as a body of clinicians, surgeons and scientists with a unified ethos to take Dr. Cooley’s core mission far into the 21st Century.”

AT TOP: Dr. Denton Cooley

Business+Innovation
medicine

THI’s New Artificial Heart Saves Patient’s Life, Furthers Med Center’s Heart-Surgery Lore

A next-gen artificial heart from BiVACOR has successfully been implanted in a patient at Texas Heart Institute. The patient survived more than a week, until a donor heart was found for a transplant.

THE PIONEERING CARDIOVASCULAR inventors and surgeons at The Texas Heart Institute (THI) in the Texas Medical Center have made another huge leap forward in the treatment of heart disease, officially announcing yesterday what they’re calling a “monumental advancement."

Keep Reading Show less
People + Places
art

‘Birds, Bugs and Flowers in the Oven!’ Foltz Presents Playful Work by Gardner, Other Texas Artists

Rachel Gardner with her flower necklaces and, at left, Calla Lilly necklace

ON SATURDAY JULY 27, Foltz Gallery presents Endless Summer, a lively, playful exhibit of works by a multi-generational group of 28 emerging and established Texas-based artists. Taking its name from the 1974 Beach Boys double-album, which compiled the group’s early 1960s hit singles, the show is a visual “mixtape” of colorful paintings, prints, photographs, wall-based installations, ceramics and sculptures, installed lovingly throughout Foltz’s spacious and sunlit galleries. Among the works in Endless Summer are several examples of handmade “sculptural jewelry” by artist Rachel Gardner — a series of wearable wildflowers and fruits, including olives and strawberries.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment