Annual awards ceremony honors exceptional alumni
On October 17, Baylor College of Medicine held its 2024 Alumni Awards ceremony in the TMC3 Collaborative Building in the Helix Park development to celebrate ten honorees. Presented annually, the awards recognize significant career accomplishments in innovative research, outstanding patient care and excellence in teaching. The ceremony honored Lifetime Achievement Award winner O.H. “Bud” Frazier, M.D. ʼ67, Res. ʼ74, and the following individuals:
- Aimee Langley, M.S. ’11, D.N.P. ’13, CRNA, CHSE, Young Alumnus Award – School of Health Professions
- Atul Maheshwari, M.D. ʼ06, Fel. ʼ12, Young Alumnus Award – School of Medicine
- Smriti A. Agrawal, Ph.D. ʼ18, Young Alumnus Award – Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- Jacques E. Zaneveld, Ph.D. ʼ15, Young Alumnus Award – Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- Joseph Petrosino, Ph.D. ʼ98, Fel. ʼ02, Distinguished Alumnus Award – Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- Benjamin Frankfort, M.D. ’05, Ph.D. ’03, Fel. ’10, Distinguished Alumnus Award – School of Medicine
- Mark M. Udden, M.D., Res. ʼ80, Fel. ʼ82, Distinguished Faculty Award
- Kelli Cohen Fein, M.A., M.D., Fel. ’96, Fel. ʼ98, Fel. ’03, Ed.D., Humanitarian Award
- Gioconda Gaudiano, M.D., Res. ʼ78, Fel. ’79, Humanitarian Award
As part of the ceremony, Dr. Frazier sat for an interview about his career, his legacy and the events that shaped his life.
As a punter for the University of Texas football team under Darrell K. Royal, Dr. Frazier planned to pursue a football career; however, a serious injury on the field proved fateful, ending his athletic career and leading him to medicine. He began medical school at Baylor in 1963, training under legendary surgeon Michael E. DeBakey, M.D. After a tour in Vietnam as a soldier in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970, during which he earned the Combat Flight Medal, Vietnamese Navy Medal and the Vietnamese Distinguished Service Medal, Dr. Frazier returned to Baylor to complete his surgical residency. He trained under both Dr. DeBakey and Denton Cooley, M.D., until he left Baylor in 1974 to focus on research into left ventricular assist devices at the Texas Heart Institute.
Since then, Dr. Frazier has performed over 1,300 heart transplants and implanted more than 1,000 left ventricular assist devices, more than any other surgeon in the world. His career highlights are impressive. They range from a 1986 operation where Dr. Frazier performed the first implantation of such a device—the HeartMate I—in a human to Dr. Frazier’s team successfully implanting the BiVACOR total artificial heart in a patient with severe heart disease in July 2024.
When asked what advice he would give to a young person, Dr. Frazier said, “I would advise a younger individual to try and focus on something that would be of benefit. There are still a lot of problems in medicine. Try to decide on something they would like to approach in their life. If you’re going to do something new, you’ve got to stay focused on it.”
To view photos from the event, click here.
To learn more about Dr. Frazier and all of the 2024 Alumni Awards honorees, please visit: www.bcm.edu/alumniawards.
