William DeVries

William DeVries
DeVries in 2002
Born	William Castle DeVries (1943-12-19) December 19, 1943 (age 73) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Fields	cardiothoracic surgeon
Known for	Dr. William DeVries and his surgical replaced a diseased heart with the Jarvik-7, the first permanent artificial heart ever used for a human patient.

William Castle DeVries (born December 19, 1943) is an American cardiothoracic surgeon, mainly known for the first transplant of a TAH (total artificial heart) using the Jarvik-7 model.

William DeVries was born December 19, 1943 in Brooklyn Navy Yard. His father, Henry DeVries, was a Dutch immigrant who died in combat on the destroyer USS Kalk (DD-611) in 1944 during the Battle of Hollandia, where he had enrolled as a naval surgeon. When his father died William was only six months old. He was raised by his grandmother and his Mormon mother until he was five. After his mother remarried, the family was enlarged by eight half-brothers and eight half–sisters and they all moved to Ogden, Utah, where he attended Ben Lomond High School and where he was a remarkable athlete being both in the basketball and track teams. During his childhood DeVries became an Eagle Scout. Because the family was meeting financial difficulties, William had to work throughout his high school to help out. He also won the Utah state finals in high jumping and thanks to his sport abilities he went to the University of Utah on a track scholarship. During college he was part of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in molecular and Genetic biology. Later on he went to medical school in Utah and received his M.D. degree in 1970.

By the time he had finished with school, he had already built a family. He married his first wife, Ane Karen, during the last year of college and had four children. During college he was able to hold down three or four jobs and yet he graduated top of his class and received the award for the most outstanding graduate.

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