Conrad R. Lam Lectureship
On February 3, 1984, Dr. Denton Cooley, Surgeon-In-Chief at the Texas Heart Institute, lectured at Henry Ford Hospital on the issue of rising health care costs. This event inaugurated the Conrad R. Lam Lectureship honoring the Henry Ford Hospital heart surgeon, who retired in 1983 after a fifty-one year career. The title of the lecture was, "Treatment of Heart Disease: Should Cost Override Quality?" Dr. Cooley stated to the medical staff that, "Cost should not override quality, but quality heart care can be made available at a reasonable cost." One suggestion was to provide care through specialized services and to establish "Centers of Excellence," which he stated, "do a few things exceptionally well and in enough volume that all support resources can be optimized."
Both Dr. Denton Cooley and Dr. Conrad Lam were honored in 1980 as two of the ten world pioneers in cardiac surgery. Dr. Cooley was described as the world's most productive cardiac surgeon and one of the most skilled in the field. In 1969, he became the first surgeon to implant an artificial heart in a man.
In the 1950s, heart surgery at Henry Ford Hospital took off and under Dr. Conrad Lam, became one of the first hospital's in Michigan to conduct open heart surgery. By 1955, this early work established the hospital as an international cardiac surgical center. This was highlighted at the March 1955 Cardiovascular Surgery Symposium at Henry Ford Hospital, in which Dr. Denton Cooley lectured on the treatment of aneurysms of the aorta. Other noted heart specialists included, Dr. Helen Taussig of Johns Hopkins, known for her work on blue babies and the French surgeon Dr. Charles DuBost, the first in the world to graft a new segment in the human aorta.
Pictured: The Monday Monitor issue covering Dr. Denton Cooley's visit to Henry Ford Hospital and the Conrad R. Lam Lectureship, February 13, 1984. From the Conrad R. Lam Archives, Henry Ford Health System.