Nina Starr Braunwald

Nina Starr Braunwald
Image of Dr. Nina Braunwald in white coat
Dr. Nina Starr Braunwald
Born
Nina Helen Starr

March 2, 1928
DiedAugust 5, 1992 (aged 64)
EducationNew York University
Bellevue Hospital
Occupation(s)Thoracic surgeon and medical researcher
Known forArtificial heart valves
SpouseEugene Braunwald (m. 1952)
Children3
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions

Nina Starr Braunwald (March 2, 1928 – August 5, 1992)[1] was an American thoracic surgeon and medical researcher who was among the first women to perform open-heart surgery. She was also the first woman to be certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and the first to be elected to the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.[2] In 1960, at the age of 32, she led the operative team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) that implanted the first successful artificial mitral human heart valve replacement, which she had designed and fabricated.[3]

  1. ^ Obituary, newspapers.com. Accessed February 19, 2024.
  2. ^ Braunwald Eugene (2001). "Nina Starr Braunwald: some reflections on the first woman heart surgeon". The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 71 (2): S6–S7. doi:10.1016/S0003-4975(00)02397-3. PMID 11235772.
  3. ^ "Dr. Nina Starr Braunwald". NLM Changing the Face of Medicine. Retrieved 13 March 2015.