Tetsuzo Akutsu

Dr. Tetsuzo Akutsu was an expert on artificial heart development. In 1950 he joined the pioneering team working on the artificial heart project led by Dr. Willem Johan Kolff at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Akutsu left in 1957 to pursue his life’s work of perfecting the artificial heart at various institutions, including New York Maimonides Memorial Hospital, the University of Mississippi, the Texas Heart Institute (Houston), the National Cardiovascular Center (Osaka), Kanazawa Medical College, Tokyo Women’s Medical College, Terumo Corp. (Kanagawa), and finally Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Pictured: Drs. Willem Kolff and Tetsuzo Akutsu examine an artificial heart.