John J. Collins Jr.
In 1984, John J. Collins, Jr., together with a surgical and medical team from the BWH performed the first heart transplant in New England. This was a relatively controversial decision, since there were only 8 established cardiac transplant units in the country, but with the introduction of immunosuppressant drug Cyclosporin he was confident that this operation would be a reasonable one for patients with terminal heart failure. The program in the last 25 years has done over 600 heart transplants. In addition to his extensive contributions to the treatment of coronary artery disease, coronary artery bypass surgery, valve surgery and cardiac transplantation, Dr. Collins had a leadership role in international exchange of medical research and surgical advances. In 1978 he began annual visits with a surgical team from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to China, where he operated on political and civic leaders while instructing Chinese physicians in his methods and...