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(Circulation. 1996;94:591.)
© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.

Dr Barney Clark Award

, The Editor

Correspondence to Dr James T. Willerson, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital/Texas Heart Institute, Room B524 (MC1-267), 6720 Bertner Ave, Houston, TX 77030-2697.

	Introduction

 
Peer M. Portner, PhD, President of the Novacor Division of Baxter Healthcare Corporation, has been honored with the prestigious Dr Barney Clark Award, named for the man who volunteered to receive the first totally artificial heart. This award was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO), Washington, DC, May 6, 1996.

Dr Portner was selected for the award "... in recognition of a lifetime of untiring dedication to the alleviation of suffering in patients with cardiac failure through the design, research, development, and clinical use of ventricular assist devices..." (unpublished statement, ASAIO, May 6, 1996). Ventricular assist devices, or VADs, are blood pumps designed to take over the workload of a failing heart.

"Dr Portner is internationally respected as an authority in the field of artificial organs and one of the pioneers in the area of mechanically assisted circulation," said Lyle D. Joyce, MD, who presented the award. "It is only proper that he should be the 1996 recipient of this prestigious award."

Dr Portner founded Oakland, California–based Novacor more than 25 years ago and is currently the president of the Novacor Division of Baxter. Dr Portner also is Consulting Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr Portner has published extensively in the field of ventricular assist devices and serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He is a member of several professional societies as well, . . . [Full Text of this Article]