Adib Domingos Jatene (June 4, 1929 – November 14, 2014) was a noted Brazilian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

of Lebanese background, university

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

and thoracic surgeon. He is remembered as the inventor of the

arterial switch operation Arterial switch operation (ASO) or arterial switch, is an open heart surgical procedure used to correct dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA). Its development was pioneered by Canadian cardiac surgeon William Mustard and it was ...

(sometimes called the Jatene arterial switch), a surgical technique to correct

transposition of the great vessels Transposition of the great vessels (TGV) is a group of congenital heart defects involving an abnormal spatial arrangement of any of the great vessels: superior and/or inferior venae cavae, pulmonary artery, pulmonary veins, and aorta. Congen ...

in the newborn.

Early life and education

Jatene was born on June 4, 1929, in the city of Xapuri in the Brazilian state Acre. He was the son of Lebanese immigrants, Domingos Antonio Jatene and Anice Adib Jatene. His father was a merchant who traded with rubber tappers. Jatene's father died from yellow fever when Jatene was 2 years old. The family subsequently moved to the city

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a city and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest city in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the si ...

in the Brazilian state

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

where his mother established a business. In 1947, Jatene then moved to São Paulo, where he studied sciences at the

Colégio Bandeirantes de São Paulo Colégio Bandeirantes, known as "Band", is a school in São Paulo, founded in 1934. It offers education from Early Childhood Education to High School. History It was founded on 1 March 1934 as Ginásio Bandeirantes, with headquarters at Rua Est ...

. At the age of 23, Jatene graduated from the

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

Faculty of Medicine. After graduation, he remained in São Paulo for two years of cardiac surgery training at the São Paulo University Hospital under the guidance of

Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (10 May 1912 – 23 October 1993) was a Brazilian physician and cardiac surgeon. He is internationally known for performing the first heart transplantation in Latin America in 1968, and for creating the famous and respe ...

until 1955.

Career

Jatene was one of the founders of the

University of São Paulo Heart Institute A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

He became Secretary of Health of the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and later Minister of Health of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

for both the

Fernando Collor de Mello Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...

and

Fernando Henrique Cardoso Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...

administrations. During his time as minister, he idealized the CPMF tax aimed at financing the health system. He was a member of the

Brazilian Academy of Medicine The Academia Nacional de Medicina (ANM) is the Brazilian national academy of medicine. The academy was founded during the Brazilian imperial period on 30 June 1829, under the name of ''Sociedade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro''. On 8 Ma ...

, and has published over 270 scientific academic studies.

Death

Jatene died on November 14, 2014, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in São Paulo, Brazil, aged 85.

References

1929 births 2014 deaths Brazilian thoracic surgeons Brazilian people of Lebanese descent University of São Paulo alumni Brazilian people of Arab descent Members of the Brazilian Academy of Medicine Academic staff of the University of São Paulo People from Xapuri Ministers of health of Brazil Recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of Ipiranga {{Brazil-med-bio-stub