<Tr> <Th> Institutions </Th> <Td> Groote Schuur Hospital University of Minnesota </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Specialism </Th> <Td> Cardiothoracic surgery Heart transplantation </Td> </Tr> <P> Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922--2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human - to - human heart transplant on 3 December 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa . Growing up in Beaufort West, Cape Province, he studied medicine and practised for several years in his native country . As a young doctor experimenting on dogs, Barnard developed a remedy for the infant defect of intestinal atresia . His technique saved the lives of ten babies in Cape Town and was adopted by surgeons in Britain and the United States . In 1955, he travelled to the United States and was initially assigned further gastrointestinal work by Owen Wangensteen . He was introduced to the heart - lung machine, and Barnard was allowed to transfer to the service run by open heart surgery pioneer Walt Lillehei . Upon returning to South Africa in 1958, Barnard was appointed head of the Department of Experimental Surgery at the Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town . </P> <P> On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of Denise Darvall, who had just died from a head injury, into the chest of a 54 - year - old Louis Washkansky . Washkansky regained full consciousness and lived for eighteen days, even spending time with his wife, before he died of pneumonia, with the suppression of his immune system by the anti-rejection drugs being a major contributing factor . Barnard had told Mr. and Mrs. Washkansky that the operation had an 80% chance of success, a claim which has been criticised as misleading . </P>

Who was the first doctor to perform a heart transplant