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As part of BWH's BluePrint celebration, BWH Bulletin features this special section to explore the past, present and future of the institution. You can find information about BluePrint, including a tool kit, milestones and events, at BWHPikeNotes.org/BluePrint. Questions? Email BWHBluePrint@partners.org.
Bernard Lown
Around the world and here at BWH, Bernard Lown, MD, is thought of as a renowned cardiologist.
From pioneering development of the direct current defibrillator in 1960, to co-founding an international organization focused on preventing nuclear war that earned him and his partner a Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, Lown has transformed the practice of cardiology. A senior physician at BWH and professor of cardiology emeritus at the Harvard School of Public Health, he still continues to inspire students and doctors today, at the age of 92.
"Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible," Lown once said. He did just that throughout his successful medical career. In addition to developing the direct current defibrillator, which resuscitates the arrested heart and is still used today, he developed the cardioverter for correcting disordered heart rhythms and introduced the drug Lidocaine for controlling disturbances of the heartbeat.
Currently, Lown is the only living recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize from BWH. In 1980, he and Dr. Evgeni Chazov, from the former Soviet Union, co-founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), an organization focused on creating a more peaceful and secure world, free from the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Both Lown and Chazov received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPPNW after the Norwegian Nobel Committee determined the organization performed "a considerable service to mankind by spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of atomic warfare," according to an official statement of the Nobel Committee.
In addition to his work as a humanitarian, Lown is founder of the Lown Cardiovascular Center in Brookline and is chairman emeritus of the Lown Institute. The institute is dedicated to creating a compassionate and sustainable health care system that promotes the health of communities and ensures that patients get the tests and treatments they need, while avoiding care that is unnecessary.
His example continues to inspire physicians at BWH. Each spring, an award in his honor, the Bernard Lown, MD, Award for Excellence in Teaching, recognizes and celebrates physicians who are outstanding clinical teachers.
Learn more about the Lown Institute. Learn more about the Lown Award.
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