Michael L. Hess (10 August 1942 – 13 April 2019) was an American professor of cardiology and physiology at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) who was instrumental in founding the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), of which he served as its first president.

[4] He gained admission to the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, and a professor of physiology offered to help with tuition fees in exchange for working in his new cardiac muscle research laboratory, where Hess then spent the subsequent three years.

[4] He spent his senior medical school year at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, where he helped set up a similar cardiac muscle research laboratory, before gaining his MD and completing his residency from Pittsburgh.

[1][4] Hess's early work at the MCV during the 1970s and 80s included taking care of Richard Lower's patients after they had received heart transplants.

[4] How instrumental Hess was in founding a registry of heart transplants and a forum for discussing what was then a very rare surgical procedure, was recounted by Sir Terence English in 2017.

[1] The letter included the names of those Hess was contacting and explained that the aim of the group was to share protocols and gather data relating to heart transplantation.

[1] It held its first official meeting with around 80 delegates on 14 March 1981 in San Francisco, and it later became known as the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT).

[1] Hess laid out the original aims of the ISHLT; to provide a forum to discuss heart transplantation, to create registers of meaningful scientific data, to establish an independent journal, to be international with the inclusion of multiple disciplines, and to gain government medical insurance and grants.