Willem Kolff
Mark Spielman
Dozier Libbey Medical High School
Health Science 2 Period 2
Willem Johan Kolff also known as “The Pioneer of Artificial Organs,” had one of the greatest impacts on 20th and 21st century medicine. Born in the Leiden, Netherlands, Willem Kolff lived at the height of the German occupation. (Blakeslee, 2009) He developed the first artificial kidney and the hemodialysis machine, as well as many other great inventions. (Willem Kolff Biography—Academy of Achievement,” 2014) Willem Kolff has helped many people live longer and has impacted today’s medicine greatly.
Kolff followed his father’s footsteps as a physician. In 1938 Kolff received his MD. Serving as an assistant at The University…show more content… At the height of the German occupation here materials were scarce, Kolff was committed to helping people with health related illnesses, this commitment led to his revolutionary achievements and inventions. Willem Kolff is a role model to many people including doctors and physicians today. “Thanks to Dr. Kolff’s groundbreaking work on the artificial kidney, more than 1.2 million patients worldwide are maintained through the life sustaining therapy of hemodialysis.” (NAE, 2003) Without Kolff’s innovations, many people would die due to the lack of treatment for various kidney related diseases.
Later in his life, Willem Kolff moved to the United States for further research on his studies. Here in the U.S., he introduced one of the first heart-lung apparatuses, as well as a wearable artificial kidney which weighed about 8 pounds. Kolff was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1985, and was named on the list of “100 of Most Important Americans of the 21st Century” by Life Magazine. (“Willem Kolff Biography – Academy of Achievement,” 2014) Dr. Kolff’s work has affected modern healthcare greatly, and has inspired many other discoveries and