Leonard Lee Bailey
Leonard Lee Bailey was an American surgeon who garnered international media attention in 1984 for transplanting a baboon’s heart into a human infant.
Bailey was born on August 28, 1942, in Takoma Park, Maryland. In 1964, he graduated from Columbia Union College and he earned a Medical PhD from Loma Linda University, School of Medicine in 1969. During the 1970s, during his residency at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, Bailey observed that many kids died from congenital heart diseases. This led him to return to Loma Linda University in 1976 as assistant professor at the School of Medicine. There he performed more than 200 experimental heart transplants on young mammals so he could see if there was the possibility of transplantation in young mammals.
On October 26, 1984 Bailey and his team at Loma Linda University Medical Center transplanted a baboon's heart into Baby Fae, as she became known to the media. This was supported by many, but it caused a lot of controversy on many groups because it was considered unethical. Baby Fae died 21 days later. Her case is still discussed to this day.
Bailey became later recognized for transplantations, which consisted of all types of pediatric and infant-open heart surgeries.
Bailey died on May 12, 2019 after a long battle with neck and throat cancer.
