Laman Gray

Jewish Hospital Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery

School of Medicine

Laman Gray, M.D. is an internationally-recognized leader in the fields of cardiac surgery and development of artificial hearts and circulatory support systems. Dr. Gray’s outstanding accomplishments include performing the first heart transplant in Kentucky (1984) and the first bridge to heart transplant after the use of a Thoratec Bi-Ventricular Assist Device in the United States (1985). He was also an original investigator for the Novacor Ventricular Assist Device System. In 1992, he performed the first clinical use of ABIOMED’s SupraCor IABP and was one of the four primary clinical investigators that brought ABIOMED’s BVS 5000 temporary cardiac support system to clinical approval by the FDA. On July 2, 2001 Dr. Gray and his surgical team implanted the first artificial heart into Robert Tools who lived five additional months on the device.

He has been the Director of the University of Louisville School of Medicine’s Division of thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery for more than twenty years and is a founding member of the Jewish Hospital heart and Lung Institute. Dr. Gray is also the Medical Director of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute – a center focused on bio-adaptive heart innovations, including the integration of heart-assist device, biodfeedback sensors and related technologies. He also serves as a consultant the Food and Drug Administration to the circulatory System Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Dr. Gray joined the faculty and staff of the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital in 1974. He has served as Governor and President of the Kentucky Chapter of the American College of Cardiology. A Louisville native, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in chemistry from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where the American Society honored him for Outstanding Work in Organic Chemistry. He then received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He completed his training with an internship and residencies in general and thoracic surgery at the University of Michigan.