Theodor Kolobow

Theodor Kolobow (1931 – 24 March 2018)[1][2] was an American physician, scientist, physiologist, and inventor of medical devices, including the membrane oxygenator, common to most modern heart-lung machines.

During World War II, he and his family spent time in a refugee camp in Augsburg, Germany, when forced to flee the invasion of the Russian Army.

After World War II, at the age of 18, Kolobow and his family immigrated to the United States and he received a scholarship to attend Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio.

[4] As a first year medical student at Case Western, Kolobow worked in the laboratory of George H. A. Clowes on a project developing new methods to oxygenate blood during cardiopulmonary bypass.

[4] Kolobow completed his medical training as a house officer in internal medicine and pulmonology at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital.

c. 1969. Drs. Theodor Kolobow (right) and Warren Zapol developed an artificial placenta which kept fetal lambs alive. This work helped lead to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ( ECMO ), when a machine replaces the heart and lung for long periods of time.