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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Dr. Willem Johan Kolff, a former University of Utah professor and pioneer in the fields of kidney dialysis and artificial organs, has died at the age of 97.
Kolff's son Jack says he died of natural causes Wednesday at a Philadelphia care center.
Kolff was part of a team of surgeons who made worldwide headlines in 1982 by implanting an artificial heart into Seattle dentist Barney Clark at University Hospital. Clark lived for four months, then died with the heart still functioning.
In 2002, Kolff received the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, one of the highest honors in American medicine, for his work on kidney dialysis.
The nominating committee noted his developments "changed kidney failure from a fatal to a treatable disease, prolonging the useful lives of millions of patients."
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Information from: Deseret News
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
