Robert Koffler Jarvik (born May 11, 1946) is an American scientist, researcher, and entrepreneur known for his role in developing the Jarvik-7 artificial heart.
[7] After being admitted to the University of Utah School of Medicine, Jarvik completed two years of study, and in 1971 was hired by Willem Johan Kolff, a Dutch-born physician-inventor at the University of Utah,[7] who produced the first dialysis machine, and who was working on other artificial organs, including a heart.
[8][9] Jarvik joined the University of Utah's artificial organs program in 1971, then headed by Willem Johan Kolff, his mentor.
At the time, the program used a pneumatic artificial heart design by Clifford Kwan-Gett that had sustained an animal in the lab for 10 days.
Two members of Congress, as part of their campaign against celebrity endorsements, began an investigation as to whether his television advertisements constitute medical advice given without a license to practice medicine.
[17][18] In 2011, she and her daughter wrote the play A Man Enters, inspired by Jarvik's absent-father relationship with his children since the couple's divorce.