Wilbert Keon , BSc / 57 , D.Sc. / 1994

Dr. Wilbert Keon is most famous for being the first Canadian to perform an artificial heart implant. He founded the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, of which he was president and CEO, at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.

After graduating from Carleton and earning his medical doctorate at the University of Ottawa in 1961, Keon has devoted most of his life to programs in cardiovascular medicine/surgery research. After a period of studying and teaching at Harvard University, he returned to Ottawa in 1969 to develop the Heart Institute, which has made Ottawa a respected center for teaching and research in cardiac medicines and diseases.

Keon received the A.D. Dunton Alumni Award of Distinction in 1977 from the Carleton Alumni Association. He received an honorary degree from Carleton in 1994.

In 1984 Keon he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1990 he was appointed to the Senate of Canada. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research named Dr. Keon the 2007 Champion of Health Research for distinguished leadership.