Biography of Kolff, Willem Johan

United States notable physician and biomedical engineer, born in the Netherlands, who pioneered the science of biomedical engineering.

He is best known for his work on the artificial kidney and kidney dialysis and for leading the medical team that implanted the first article heart in a human.

Born in Leiden, on February 14, 1911, the son of a doctor, Kolff was educated at the University of Leiden Medical School. He did postgraduate research at Groningen University and in 1940, when the Netherlands was occupied, he moved to the municipal hospital of Kampen, where he developed the first artificial kidney in 1943.

In 1945, Kolf obtained his first survivor a 67 year old woman named Sofia Schafstadt. The artificial kidney kept Schafstadt alive for several days, long enough for her own kidneys to begin working again.

Later supplied researchers in Britain, Canada, and the United States with his successful design.

Kolff emigrated to the United States in 1950 to join the staff of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (1950-1967), where he studied cardiovascular problems.

In United States he headed teams that invited a wide variety of prosthetic devices, including machines to substitute for the kidney and the lungs.

He also invented the intra-aortic balloon pump to help circulation during heart attack (1961). In 1957 he implanted one in a dog, which survived for ninety minutes.

In 1967 Kolff moved to the University of Utah where he was appointed professor of surgery and director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Head of the Division of Artificial Organs, heading a team developing new prostheses and artificial organs.

In 1982, Kolff and his colleagues used an aluminum and plastic heart to replace the diseased heart of Dr Barney Clark, who survived for 112 days in 1982 and 1983.  
Biography of Kolff, Willem Johan