November 6, 2009

Donald S. Baim, MD, Interventional Cardiology Pioneer Dies

November 7, 2009—Boston Scientific Corporation (Natick, MA) announced the death of Donald S. Baim, MD, the company's chief medical and scientific officer since July 2006. Dr. Baim passed away on November 6 of complications of surgery for treating newly diagnosed adrenal cancer. He was 60 years of age. A memorial service was held on Monday, November 9, in Canton, Massachusetts.

His career and impact on the practice of cardiovascular medicine and development of medical devices were honored in a statement from Boston Scientific's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ray Elliott.

Dr. Baim served Boston Scientific with enormous dedication, distinction, and effectiveness. He was the chief advocate and champion for millions of patients who were helped by our products, technologies, and clinical science.

He was a pioneer in the development of interventional cardiology, and the many contributions he made to science, medicine, and medical technology will serve as a proud and enduring legacy.

His prestigious career included positions as a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a leading physician at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Beth Israel Hospital, both in Boston. He was a prolific author, publishing nearly 300 scientific papers and editing the leading textbook in the field of interventional cardiology.

We were fortunate to have had Dr. Baim as a member of the Boston Scientific family, and we are grateful for all he did for our Company. He left us far too soon, and we will miss him very much.

The Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) remembered Dr. Baim as a pioneer of the profession and a dedicated, compassionate caregiver.

The SCAI stated:

He had a deep commitment to SCAI since joining the Society in 1984 and advancing to Fellowship (FSCAI) status soon thereafter. In addition to authoring or coauthoring 41 articles in SCAI's journal, Dr. Baim served on many SCAI committees as a key contributor to the society's guidelines, quality standards, and professional education programs.

The capstone of Dr. Baim's involvement with SCAI was his service as one of two keynote speakers at SCAI's 30th Annual Scientific Sessions in May 2007. In his lecture, Dr. Baim focused on major breakthroughs, short-lived disappointments, and future developments in interventional cardiology from his vantage point of a three-decades career.

At that time, Dr. Baim remarked to his SCAI colleagues:

"Looking back, I'm struck that we as interventional cardiologists have never simply accepted the limitations placed before us. We've always tried to overcome them through creative thinking—and then to subject the results of that creativity to the crucible of evidence-based medicine, knowing that sometimes we'll win, and sometimes we'll lose, but, always, we'll move forward. The progress is not over. It's continuing every day, and interventional cardiologists need to stay plugged into this evolution and participate in it. No one can afford to be a fly in amber at any point in this evolution."

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November 6, 2009

Donald S. Baim, MD, Interventional Cardiology Pioneer Dies

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