Denton Cooley

I've always felt that I did well as a student because I lacked confidence.

Of the many 'firsts' with which I have been involved at the Texas Heart Institute __ncluding the first successful human heart transplant in the United States and the first total artificial heart transplant in the world__he achievement that may have the greatest impact on health care did not occur in the operating room or in the research laboratory. It happened on a piece of paper... when we created the first-ever packaged pricing plan for cardiovascular surgical procedures.