On Sept. 15, 1997, Alain Carpentier at Hospital European Goerges Pompidou in Paris and Albert Starr at Providence Health & Services in Portland, Oregon received Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research “the development of prosthetic mitral and aortic valves, which have prolonged and enhanced the lives of millions of people with heart disease.”

This device has transformed life for people with serious valve disease, providing a remedy where none previously existed. Carpentier then circumvented the predominant limitation of mechanical valves — a propensity to clot within blood vessels and the associated need to take blood thinners — by adapting animal valves for use in humans. In the embryonic days of open-heart surgery, Starr and Carpentier opened up the entire field of valve replacement. Their work has restored health and longevity to millions of individuals with heart disease.

Starr’s and Carpentier’s contributions extend beyond these landmark innovations. In an era before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated medical devices, Starr set up the infrastructure for conducting clinical trials on his valves, including an informed-consent procedure and long-term patient tracking. This practice allowed him to evaluate valve-replacement outcomes and seek solutions to clinical problems.

Furthermore, his surgical patients required a new type of postoperative care. To deliver it, he assembled a multidisciplinary healthcare team, creating what corresponds to today’s cardiac intensive care unit.

Carpentier, in turn, augmented his own initial discovery by formulating techniques to repair rather than replace valves — a venture that was aided by the availability of prosthetic valves as a backup. He continues to probe the suboptimal areas of heart-valve surgery, relentlessly pursuing superior strategies.