Robert Jarvik
| Robert Jarvik | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Robert Koffler Jarvik May 11, 1946 Midland, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
Syracuse University New York University |
| Occupation | Scientist, researcher |
| Known for | Developing the Jarvik-7 artificial heart |
| Spouse(s) | Marilyn vos Savant (m. 1987) |
| Relatives | Murray Jarvik (paternal uncle) |
| Website | www.jarvikheart.com |
Robert Koffler Jarvik (born May 11, 1946) is an American scientist, researcher, and entrepreneur known for his role in developing the Jarvik-7 artificial heart.
Robert Jarvik was born in Midland, Michigan, to Norman Eugene Jarvik and Edythe Koffler Jarvik, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He is the nephew of Murray Jarvik, a pharmacologist who was the co-inventor of the nicotine patch.
Jarvik is a graduate of Syracuse University. He earned a master's degree in medical engineering from New York University.
After being admitted to the University of Utah School of Medicine, Jarvik completed two years of study, and in 1971 was hired by Willem Johan Kolff, a Dutch-born physician-inventor at the University of Utah, who produced the first dialysis machine, and who was working on other artificial organs, including a heart. Jarvik received his M.D. in 1976 from the University of Utah. A medical scientist, he did not complete an internship or residency and has never been licensed to practice medicine.
Jarvik joined University of Utah's artificial organs program in 1971, then headed by Willem Johan Kolff, his mentor. At the time, the program used a pneumatic artificial heart design by Clifford Kwan-Gett that had sustained an animal in the lab for 10 days. Kolff assigned Jarvik to design a new heart that would overcome the problems of the Kwan-Gett heart, eventually culminating with the Jarvik-7 device.
Jarvik worked jointly with Kolff on the Jarvik-7 artificial heart, a self-contained, integrated pneumatic unit based on previous designs, particularly those of Paul Winchell. No better solution was found for transcutaneous transmission of energy than surgical tunnelling of two 3 cm pneumatic tubes. The control apparatus was shopping-cart sized. Thus, a patient with a Jarvik-7 had very restricted mobility, even if other problems such as embolism and infection were adequately controlled. Patients still required medication, including heavy antibiotics as well as other drugs and treatments. The heart utilized ultra thin membranes stacked to form a diaphragmatic surface with a graphite lubricant intermittently placed between the membranes.
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