Donald Kahn
Donald Roy Kahn (born May 21, 1929; died October 24, 2015 in Mountain Brook) was a pioneering heart surgeon, medical researcher and real estate investor.
Kahn was the son of Nathan and Bertha Goldner Kahn. He grew up in Birmingham. He enrolled at Birmingham-Southern College as a pre-medical major and completed his M.D. at UAB. He interned at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri and completed a residency in general surgery and cardiac surgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan. While there, he performed the first heart by-pass operation in that state, and pioneered the use of the mammary artery for such procedures. He later moved to the University of Wisconsin where he chaired the department of cardiac surgery and performed the first heart transplant in that state. His research into aspects of such surgeries improved the transport of donor organs. He co-authored an early textbook on cardiac surgery.
In 1982 Kahn returned to Birmingham and founded the heart transplant program at Princeton Baptist Medical Center. After retiring from medicine, he pursued real estate investments, building a portfolio for Kahn Properties, focusing on Five Points South and English Village.
Kahn died in 2015 and was interred at Elmwood Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Shirley and two sons, Alex and Mitchell. A medical scholarship at UAB and a legacy fund at Temple Emanu-El were established in his memory.
Publications
- Kahn, Donald; Ruth H. Strang & William S. Wilson (1968) Clinical Aspects of Operable Heart Disease. Appleton-Century-Crofts
References
- "Donald Roy Kahn" obituary (October 24, 2015) The Birmingham News
External links
- Donald Kahn at Findagrave.com