Dr. Henry Heimlich

Dr. Henry Jay Heimlich is a controversial American physician who is the inventor of abdominal thrusts to rescue a choking-victim, more commonly known as the "Heimlich Maneuver." A graduate of Cornell Medical College in 1943, he first published his views about the maneuver in 1947 in an informal article in "Emergency Medicine." His method for saving the life of a person choking on food by pressing a fist into the victim's abdomen has caused him to be credited with saving 50,000 people in the United Sates alone, "more lives saved than any other living American." Dr. Heimlich's career is notable for the abundance of creative, simple solutions he has provided for seemingly insurmountable health and medical problems. In the 1950s, a month after completing training in general and chest surgery, he conceived of an operation to replace the esophagus, in the first total organ replacement in history. Dr. Heimlich also advocates the controversial and unproven use of malaria to treat HIV. Dr. Heimlich has been enshrined in the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame and is the recipient of the Albert Lasker Public Service Award, the highest honor in American medicine. Dr. Henry Heimlich addressed the student delegates at the 1985 Achievement Summit in Denver, Colorado.