Donald S. Baim

Donald S. Baim (September 26, 1949 – November 6, 2009) was a researcher and clinician in the field of interventional cardiology. Baim's primary research focused on coronary blood flow, catheter intervention in heart disease, and congestive heart failure. His work helped to shift the use of catheters from a purely diagnostic tool to a therapeutic tool. After receiving a medical degree from Yale and initial medical training, residency and a fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center, Baim spent the bulk of his career at Beth Israel Hospital and at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In 1993, Baim founded the Beth Israel Hospital's Cardiovascular Data Analysis Center (CDAC) -- later to be named Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI). Baim died of cancer in November 2009. In October 2016, HCRI changed its name to the Baim Institute for Clinical Research.

Education Baim earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Chicago in 1971 and a medical degree from Yale University in 1975. In 1995, he was awarded an honorary master's degree from Harvard University.

Academic and research career Baim trained in internal medicine and cardiology in the early days of balloon angioplasty under John Simpson at Stanford University Medical Center, where he was an intern in medicine from 1975 to 1976. At Stanford, he served as a resident in medicine from 1976 to 1978 and a fellow in cardiology from 1978 to 1980. From 1980 to 1981, he was an attending physician and a physician specialist in cardiology at Stanford.

He became board certified in internal medicine in 1979, and in 1981, he received board certification in cardiovascular disease.

Baim joined the Harvard Medical School faculty in 1981 as instructor in medicine. He served as assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1982 to 1988 and associate professor of medicine from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, he became a full professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

In addition to his academic positions at Harvard Medical School, Baim held various clinical positions during the 1980s and 1990s at Beth Israel Hospital (BI, now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) in Boston. In 1981, he established BI's interventional cardiology program. Under his leadership, the program performed research in the refinement, critical evaluation and optimal application of stents, atherectomy, clot removal and distal embolic protection. Additional techniques include atherectomy (removal of plaque from lesions), thrombectomy (removal of clots from vessels) and embolic protection (capture and removal of embolic debris).

Baim served as a member of the Interventional Cardiology Test Committee of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Career milestones Baim served as chief medical and scientific officer for Boston Scientific in Natick, Mass., from 2006 until his death in 2009. During his tenure at Boston Scientific, he supported the use of drug-eluting stents at a time when the 2006 European Congress of Cardiology called their safety into question. Baim presented data that the devices did not result in an increase in heart attack or death, a position supported by later studies. bifurcation stent delivery system and methods in 2008.

In 2011, Boston Scientific established a $1.7 million endowment to fund the Donald S. Baim scholarship fund for Yale School of Medicine.

In addition to his position at Boston Scientific, Baim was a founder of, or key contributor to, more than 20 medical device start-up companies.

Baim had multiple sclerosis starting at the age of 40.