Cardiac Cowboys

Author: iHeartPodcasts

The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
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Language: en-us

Genres: History

Contact email: Get it

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Dr. Eric A. Rose & Dr. Gerald Imber on the Future of Heart Medicine
Wednesday, 12 November, 2025

Eric A. Rose, MD is a world leader in cardiac surgery and cardiovascular research who performed the first successful pediatric heart transplant. Gerald Imber, MD is a plastic surgeon and author whose medical history books include Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Halsted and Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery. They join host Jamie Napoli to discuss the challenges facing medical innovators today, and their hopes for the future of heart medicine. Thoughts or suggestions? You can reach us at cardiaccowboys@13thlakemedia.com. Executive Producers: Cristina Everett for iHeartPodcasts; Dub Cornett and Jason Ross for OSO Studios; Gerald Imber; Eric A. Rose, M.D.; John Mankiewicz; Joshua Paul Johnson; and Jamie NapoliSupervising Producer: James A. SmithEditing and Sound Design by: Joshua Paul JohnsonComposer: David Mansfield Cover Artwork by: Alexander Smith Production Companies: iHeartPodcasts, OSO Studios, and 13th Lake MediaProduction Legal Services: Jacqueline Eckhouse & Mel Pudig, Sloss Eckhouse Dasti Haynes LawCo; and Lincoln Bandlow, Lincoln Bandlow Law Copyright 2025, TTB, LLC. All rights reserved.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.