Robert Jarvik

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Robert Koffler Jarvik

Born Robert Koffler Jarvik
May 11, 1946 (1946-05-11) (age 62)
Midland, Michigan, United States
Occupation Scientist, Researcher
Known for Developing the Jarvik-7 artificial heart
Spouse Marilyn vos Savant (1987-present)
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.

Contents

Biography

Jarvik was born in Midland, Michigan to Dr. Norman Eugene Jarvik and Edythe Koffler Jarvik and raised in Stamford, Connecticut.[1]

Jarvik is married to Parade magazine columnist Marilyn vos Savant.[2] They reside in New York. He is also the nephew of Dr. Murray Jarvik, a pharmacologist who was the co-inventor of the nicotine patch.[3][4]

Jarvik is a graduate of Syracuse University. He earned a master’s degree in medical engineering from New York University. After that he went to work for Dr. 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. He did not complete an internship or residency and has never been licensed to practice medicine.[5][6]

Artificial heart

The completion of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart device was the result of the contributions of a string of researchers, the last of whom was Dr. Jarvik. Paul Winchell, the ventriloquist and television character and voice actor, invented the first artificial heart. With the help and advice of Dr. Henry Heimlich, Winchell designed an artificial ventricle and built a prototype. He filed for a patent in 1956, which he received in 1963. Winchell donated his patent to the University of Utah's artificial organs program that was headed by Dr. Willem Johan Kolff. However, the Utah program's Dr. Clifford Kwan-Gett had independently come up with his own integrated pneumatic artificial heart, and his design did not have the problems of his contemporaries' configurations. Jarvik, using many of Winchell's and Kwan-Gett's basic principles, further improved the designs and materials, culminating with the Jarvik-7 device.[7]

Jarvik worked jointly with Kolff on the Jarvik-7 artificial heart, a self-contained, integrated pneumatic unit. 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 — heavy antibiotics as well as other drugs and treatments. Additionally, Jarvik was noted for a key contribution to the heart which involved using ultra thin membranes stacked to form a diaphragmatic surface with a graphite lubricant intermittently placed between the membranes.

Dr. William DeVries first implanted the Jarvik-7 into retired dentist Barney Clark at the University of Utah on December 2, 1982. He had to have frequent visits to the hospital for the next 112 days, after which he died. During frequent press conferences to update the patient's condition, Jarvik, along with head surgeon Dr. William DeVries, briefed the world’s media on Clark’s condition. The next several implantations of the Jarvik 7 heart were conducted by Humana, a large health care insurance company. The second patient, Bill Schroeder, survived 620 days.[8]

Companies

Later, Jarvik tried forming Symbion, Inc. to manufacture the heart, but he lost the company in a takeover due to his inabilities to focus money acquired by investors in productive development of the device. Dr. Don Olsen would later take over the company and attempt to rescue its demise. Jarvik then founded Jarvik Heart, Inc., and began work to create the Jarvik 2000, a lifetime ventricular assist device.[4]

Celebrity

Jarvik's name came to the forefront since the well-aired 1982 news coverage of the first artificial heart transplant. Starting in 2006, Jarvik has appeared in television commercials for Pfizer Pharmaceutical's cholesterol medication Lipitor. Two members of Congress began an investigation as to whether his television advertisements constitute medical advice given without a license to practice medicine. Further, the ad depicts Jarvik performing certain physical tasks — such as rowing — that he actually never performed on camera. Instead, the ad employed a body double for Dr. Jarvik in these instances.[9]

On 25 February 2008, Pfizer announced that it would retract its Lipitor ads with Dr. Jarvik based on the allegations under investigation.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Men in the News: A Pair of Skilled Hands to Guide an Artificial Heart: Robert Kiffler Jarvik". Article in The New York Times, 3 December 1982. Retrieved from [1] on 2006-06-23.
  2. ^ About Marilyn. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  3. ^ Maugh II, Thomas. "Dr. Murray E. Jarvik, 84; UCLA pharmacologist invented nicotine patch", Los Angeles Times, 2008-05-14. Retrieved on 2008-05-26. 
  4. ^ "Dr. Murray Jarvik, co-inventor of nicotine patch, dies at 84 in Santa Monica", Associated Press, International Herald Tribune, 2008-05-10. Retrieved on 2008-05-26. 
  5. ^ "Men in the News: A Pair of Skilled Hands to Guide an Artificial Heart: Robert Kiffler Jarvik". Article in The New York Times, 3 December 1982. Retrieved from [2] on 2007-05-27.
  6. ^ "Is this celebrity doctor's TV ad right for you?". Article in MSNBC, 1 March 2007. Retrieved from [3] on 2007-05-27.
  7. ^ http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/winchell.html MIT Inventor of the Week Archive
  8. ^ Artificial Heart - Early developments
  9. ^ "Congress questions Jarvik's credentials in celebrity ad" The State, January 8, 2008. http://www.thestate.com/nation/story/278107.html
  10. ^ Pfizer pulls ads featuring artificial heart inventor - Heart health - MSNBC.com

External links