The Starr-Edwards Artificial Heart Valve: Historical Sources

Albert Starr talks about his early education and medical training, his service in the Korean War, and how he came to the University of Oregon Medical School in 1958, where he soon met engineer Lowell Edwards. He discusses his involvement in the development of the first prosthetic heart valves that were successfully implanted in humans. He reminisces about the pioneering surgeons he met and outlines the history of American surgery in the twentieth century. He closes with comments on the issue of informed consent.

Edwards talks about his education and career at OHSU, first in the Division of Chest Diseases and later as a member of the Center for Ethics in Health Care. He then talks about his father, Miles Lowell Edwards, the electrical engineer and inventor who founded Edwards Laboratories and who worked with Dr. Albert Starr, a surgeon at the University Of Oregon Medical School, and designed the Starr-Edwards artificial heart valve.

Griswold looks back on his 55 years in cardiology. He discusses the history of cardiology nationally and locally. He talks about the growth of the Division of Cardiology at UOMS, cardiac research, the Starr-Edwards heart valve, the cardiac catheterization laboratory, the expansion of the Medical School and its relationship with the Portland Veterans Administration Hospital, and the training of cardiologists from Portland-area hospitals in newly developed techniques. Among the faculty he talks about are J. David Bristow, George Porter, Bill Youmans, Charles Dotter, Richard Sleeter, and Jim Metcalfe. He recalls his early life and upbringing and his student days at UOMS from 1939 to 1943.

James A. Wood, M.D. is a notable University of Oregon Medical School alumni and former faculty member. This interview predominantly covers Dr. Wood’s involvement in the development of the Starr-Edwards heart valve. Dr. Wood discusses his introductions to both Dr. Starr and Mr. Lowell Edwards, among other important figures in cardiology at the time, and recounts the testing, manufacturing, technological, financial, and surgical aspects of the heart valve, along with challenges and eventually-clear successes. The interview also touches on the response in the science and research community that the innovation received and discussion of some further progress that has developed as a result.

A history of the Edwards family, researched and written by Margaret Watt Edwards, wife of M. Lowell Edwards.