With today’s doodle, Google honors the distinguished Chinese-Australian surgeon Dr. Victor Chang (Victor Chang)one of the pioneers of cardiac and transplant surgery in Australia and beyond.

Chang Yam Him, as his Chinese name was, was born in Shanghai on November 21, 1936. At a young age, his mother developed breast cancer, which prompted him to pursue medicine.

He studied medicine and trained in surgery at the University of Sydney. He continued his surgical training at the renowned St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and subsequently gained experience working in hospitals abroad. He returned to Australia in 1972 and rejoined St. Vincent’s Hospital as a cardiothoracic surgeon.

One of Victor Chang’s most important contributions to medicine was the development of an artificial heart valve, which was significantly cheaper than previous models, making it universally accessible.

Dr Chang also performed a successful heart transplant on the youngest Australian patient, Fiona Coote, in 1984 when she was just 14 years old. Two years later she was operated on again and today, Fiona Coote is Australia’s oldest surviving heart transplant recipient.

Just how important Victor Chang’s contribution to medicine was is evidenced by two events: in 1986 he received Australia’s highest honor and in 1999 he was voted Australian of the Century.

In 1984, he created the eponymous foundation that grants scholarships to South East Asian surgeons to retrain at St. Vincent’s Hospital and get to know the latest developments in the fields of cardiac surgery and transplants.

Victor Chang died ignominiously on July 4, 1991, aged 54, when he was robbed and murdered by two Malaysians in Sydney. He was married to intensivist Ann Simmons and had three children.