Tofy Mussivand

Tofy Mussivand (1942 to 2024) was an Iranian-Canadian medical engineer of Kurdish origin, known for inventing the Artificial Cardiac Pump, a device that pumps blood during heart surgery. He was born to Kurdish parents in the village of Varkaneh in Hamadan province, Iran, and worked as a goat herder as a boy before leaving to study in Tehran. He studied engineering at Tehran University and the University of Alberta, then earned his doctorate in medical engineering and medical sciences at the University of Akron and the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. After joining the Cleveland Clinic he returned to Canada in 1989 and became a professor of surgery and of engineering at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, where he led the cardiovascular devices division of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and the medical devices program. He was an honorary member of the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences and died on 7 January 2024.