HOUSTON (Oct. 10, 2023) — Houston CityBook this month tapped world-renowned cardiovascular surgeon and inventor Bud Frazier, MD — a pioneer of heart surgery and cardiac mechanical pump development at The Texas Heart Institute® — to its esteemed “Leaders and Legends” annual feature.

Dr. Frazier joins fellow legendary honorees, including musician Bernard James Freeman (aka Bun B), philanthropist Cynthia Petrello, real estate magnate David Weekley, and restaurateur Alex Brennan-Martin on the publication’s 2023 list.

The sole medical legend highlighted this year, Dr. Frazier’s memorable profile — written by CityBook editors — reads:

“It seems that Shakespeare-loving, rare-book-collecting O.H. “Bud” Frazier, 83, could be considered a legend for his storytelling alone; the one about his dinner with ‘that Irish singer’ who turned out to be Bono is a good one. But it’s his work as a pioneer in daring heart procedures that’s made him famous. Trained by the famously dueling forefathers of modern cardiac surgery — DeBakey and Cooley — the surgeon-inventor was instrumental in creating and successfully installing iterations of pumps and artificial hearts. And he’s performed more than 1,300 heart transplants, more than anyone else on earth.”

Also in the October issue, Houston CityBook Editor-in-Chief Jeff Gremillion penned a beautifully written essay titled, “After Cardiac Procedure, Patient Reflects on Med Center’s Daring Heart History with Pioneering Doc.” In this piece, he chronicles his personal experience as a heart patient in the Texas Medical Center, some of Dr. Frazier’s most heartfelt patient stories, and how Houston enabled some of the greatest innovations in cardiovascular surgery.

Gremillion concludes his essay noting, “As my time with Frazier winds down, I take his parting words to heart. Pun absolutely intended. ‘A lot of the advances in cardiac surgery occurred here, in this Medical Center,’ he says. ‘Not at Harvard or Princeton or Yale. They didn’t do it. I think it was done here because you could do things, and if it failed, you could try again. I don’t think it could have been done anywhere but Texas—and in Texas I don’t think it could have been done anywhere else but Houston.’”