Birthday messages from the public will be hand delivered to Dr. Leonard Bailey.
One of the most popular articles on the Loma Linda University Health website is an article published in 1985. People from around the world are interested in infant named Baby Fae and her surgeon, Leonard Bailey.
From pioneering infant heart transplantation to performing countless lifesaving procedures at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, Dr. Bailey has impacted the lives of nearly all who know him.
Dr. Bailey has helped others celebrate many birthdays and now Loma Linda University Health is celebrating his birthday Sunday, Aug. 28. As a part of the Build Hope campaign, a virtual event will be held from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Birthday wishes submitted by the public will be hand delivered to him. For more information on how you can help build hope in honor of Dr. Bailey visit http://bit.ly/drbaileybdaynews.
About Dr. Bailey
Leonard Bailey, MD, developed a vision for infant heart transplantation during his residency program when he saw that otherwise perfect babies were dying from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital heart defect that had defied successful reconstructive heart surgery.
Bailey performed more than 200 experimental transplantations in infant research animals to determine the feasibility of transplantation in the very young before October 26, 1984, when he transplanted a baboon heart into the infant known as Baby Fae.
His pioneering work has enabled babies born with otherwise fatal heart deformities to be given a second chance at life, and resulted in babies being added to the national organ transplant registry.
Transplantation remains a small portion of Bailey’s practice, which involves all types of congenital heart diseases in children of all age groups.
With numerous scientific publications, Bailey is an internationally recognized authority on congenital heart surgery and infant heart transplantation. He lectures and operates regularly throughout the world. He is a distinguished professor of surgery at Loma Linda University School of Medicine and surgeon-in-chief at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.
