In Memoriam:
Stephen B. Colvin MD
Dr. Stephen Colvin
The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the NYU Medical Center is deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved colleague, mentor and friend, Stephen B. Colvin, M.D, Founding Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the NYU School of Medicine.
Dr. Colvin was an internationally recognized leader in cardiothoracic surgery and his unswerving commitment to improving surgical techniques revolutionized the field of heart surgery. He was world-renowned for his work in mitral valve reconstruction and was recognized as an expert in congenital heart surgery. In 1996, Dr. Colvin and his team led the world in minimally invasive heart surgery methods, allowing countless adults and children to have complicated heart surgery performed with less trauma, pain, scarring and remarkably accelerated recoveries. Along with Dr. Aubrey Galloway, Seymour Cohn Professor and Chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery, he invented the Colvin-Galloway Future Band, a flexible annuloplasty ring used to repair mitral valves. The device is in use worldwide. He also pioneered the use of state-of-the-art intraoperative video photography and performed more than 10,000 heart operations during his 30 year career at NYU Medical Center. His youngest patient was less than one-day old and his oldest was 98 years of age.
In addition, Dr. Colvin was instrumental in training many other cardiac surgeons from across the globe in these advanced surgical techniques. In 1996, Dr. Colvin and Dr. Eugene Grossi accomplished the first minimally invasive valve operation in India, returning there again in 2002 to further demonstrate the evolution of these technologies. In June 2000, Dr. Colvin and Dr. Grossi performed the first minimally invasive heart and robotic assisted surgeries ever performed in China in conjunction with the “International Symposium on Advanced Techniques of Cardiovascular Surgery,” an event he co-chaired with Dr. Qing-Yu Wu, Director of the Fu Wai Cardiovascular Institute in Beijing.
For many years, Dr. Colvin performed heart surgery on desperately ill children from around the world in collaboration with several international non-profit organizations. His vision and passion to help young children with heart disease led him to co-found Project Kids Worldwide in 2001. Project Kids Worldwide is a non-profit organization whose mission is to make available life-saving heart surgery and improve medical treatment for impoverished children with congenital and acquired heart disease from medically underserved areas throughout the world. To date, more than 50 children from China, Africa, the Caribbean, India, South America and the Middle East have undergone successful heart surgery and returned to their native homelands with a renewed hope for a healthy future thanks to Project Kids Worldwide and Dr. Colvin.
Under Dr. Colvin's direction, NYU's Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery grew to perform more than 1,800 surgeries annually at three hospitals, and expanded to include programs in pediatric cardiac surgery and high risk adult surgery. He built one of the nation’s finest training and research programs and personally trained over 100 cardiac surgeons, many of whom have assumed leading positions nationally. Dr. Colvin was widely celebrated for saving tens of thousands more, by sharing the techniques he helped invent with surgeons from around the world through satellite conferences.
Dr. Colvin was a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Surgeons. He was a member of numerous professional organizations including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons, the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, the Andrew Morrow Society, the Pediatric Cardiology Society of Greater New York and the Cardiovascular Surgery Council of the American Heart Association. He earned his M.D. degree from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He continued his internship and residency at NYU Medical Center and completed a prestigious fellowship at the National Heart and Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Colvin completed his training in cardiothoracic surgery at NYU and joined the faculty in 1978.
Known for his charisma, drive and innovative talents, Dr. Colvin was a unique leader of cardiac surgery in the United States. His loss is irreplaceable.
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Contributions in his memory can be made to the Cardiovascular Research Fund, NYU Medical Center, or to Project Kids Worldwide, both at 530 First Avenue, Suite 9V, New York, NY – 10016.
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