About Ochsner

On November 22, 2000, Dr. John Ochsner became the twelfth recipient of the Michael E. DeBakey Award, a singular honor bestowed only on the world's most outstanding surgeons. John's father, Alton Ochsner, MD, was the second recipient of this award in 1978. At the awards ceremony in Houston, Dr. Ochsner presented Dr. DeBakey: His New Orleans Experience. The link between Dr. John Ochsner and Dr. Michael DeBakey was forged over 60 years ago when DeBakey began practicing with Dr. Alton Ochsner at the original Ochsner Clinic in Uptown New Orleans. In the early years of John Ochsner's medical career, he trained under Dr. DeBakey in Houston where he remained until returning to New Orleans in 1961 to serve as head of surgery at Ochsner Clinic, a position he held for 25 years. Among Dr. John Ochsner's numerous contributions to medicine is the first heart transplant in the Gulf South (1970).

Dr. Stephen Hamburger, MD, FACP, has accepted the position of Chairman of Internal Medicine at Ochsner Clinic for the New Orleans and Northshore areas. Dr. Hamburger received his MD from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine training and endocrinology fellowship at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hamburger practiced at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine/Truman Health System (UMKC) for 22 years, where he was the Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine from 1982 to 1999. During his tenure as Chairman, he doubled the size of the department, tripled the departmental research endeavors (including publications and grants), and coordinated the expansion of the residency program to a total of 64 residents. Other positions served at UKMC included being a member of the Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine/ACGME for 6 years, as well as being a member of the Board of Directors of the Truman Health System for 9 years. Dr. Hamburger left UMKC in 1999 to spend a year as Medical Director for Cook County Hospital and Associate Dean for Rush Medical College. Seeking a return to clinical practice and teaching, Dr. Hamburger accepted his new position at Ochsner at the end of last year.