James L. Cox

James Cox started his college education on a baseball scholarship at the University of Mississippi. On the day he received an offer to play professional baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers he also received his acceptance to medical school at the University of Tennessee.[1] He wanted to be a surgeon, so he chose medical school. He received his MD from Tennessee and began his surgical residency at Duke University in 1967. He served with the US Army medical corps from 1970 through 1972, then returned to Duke to finish his residency and surgical training, under the direction of David Sabiston. He join the faculty as an assistant professor of surgery in 1978.

Cox advanced to associate professor of surgery at Duke in 1982, then in 1983 he moved to the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he became Professor and Chief, CardioThoracic Surgery. Specializing in surgeries for cardiac arrhythmias, in 1987 he first performed his eponymous "maze" procedure,[2] which was recognized as the first cure for atrial fibrillation.[3] From 1990 to 1997 he was Evarts A. Graham Professor of Surgery at Washington University.

In 1997 Cox moved to Georgetown University to become chairman of the department of cardiothoracic surgery. Shortly afterward he was forced by knee problems to give up surgery and he retired in 2000.[4] He continued his active role in cardiology, serving as director on professional boards and as editor of two journals of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

In 2005 Cox became Emeritus Evarts A. Graham Professor of Surgery at Washington University. He currently serves as chairman and CEO of the World Heart Foundation[5] and was the Medical Director for the ATS Medical division of Medtronic until 2010.

• one of 30 "Pioneers in Cardiothoracic Surgery for the First 50 Years of the Specialty", Paris 2000
• Ray C. Fish Award for Scientific Achievement in Cardiovascular Diseases, 2004
• Elected to the Russian Academy of Medical Science, 2005