James D. Hardy

James D. Hardy (born May 14, 1918, Alabama, U.S.—died February 19, 2003, Jackson, Mississippi) was an American surgeon who pioneered transplant operations with three landmark cases: the first human lung transplant, in 1963; the first animal-to-human heart transplant, in 1964, which caused a heated debate on its ethical and moral consequences; and a double-lung transplant leaving the heart in place in 1987.

Hardy was the son of a lime plant owner in Newala, Alabama, where he spent his youth. In 1938 he started premedical studies at the University of Alabama. At that time the university offered only a two-year medical program, so to complete his studies Hardy decided to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received an M.D. in 1942. He then began a residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he became convinced of the importance of combining research and clinical practice. In 1944, during World War II, he was called to duty by the U.S. Army. For the next two years he served in the 81st Field Hospital in Europe. It was then that he decided that he would pursue a career in surgery.

After the war Hardy again joined the University of Pennsylvania, taking up a residency in surgery. He later received a Damon Runyon fellowship to study the use of heavy water (water composed of oxygen and the hydrogen isotope deuterium) in the measurement of body fluids. The research earned Hardy a master’s degree in physiological chemistry from the university in 1951. That same year he became an assistant professor of surgery and director of surgical research at the University of Tennessee at Memphis. Two years later he was appointed chair of surgery.

In 1955 a new four-year medical school, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was opened in Jackson. Hardy became the first chair of surgery in the new centre. He held that position until 1987, and it was in this capacity that he performed the transplant operations that would make him famous throughout the world. The most controversial of Hardy’s transplants was the chimpanzee-to-human heart transplant performed in 1964. The operation attracted criticism from some of Hardy’s colleagues. During his long career Hardy wrote several books on surgery, served as editor in chief of academic surgery journals, and was a member of several surgery associations.

Hardy recorded his perspectives on his career and achievements in The World of Surgery, 1945–1985: Memoirs of One Participant (1986) and The Academic Surgeon: An Autobiography (2002).