The late 1940s: With World War II over, confidence levels soared, and a new era in American industrialism and demographics began. It was during this time that two friends established a modest medical research facility in an abandoned polio barrack adjacent to Charlotte Memorial Hospital (now Carolinas Medical Center). Dannie K. Heineman, a Charlotte-born industrialist, and Paul W. Sanger, a young surgeon who was trained in thoracic surgery while serving with distinction in the army in World War II, had the modest goal of conducting basic thoracic and vascular research. Neither of them realized that, in just a few short years, Sanger would develop the world‚ first synthetic arterial graft, a major medical success of their time.

With intellect, dedication and foresight, Sanger set the pace for a long series of achievements that propelled Heineman Laboratory to a position of leadership in cardiovascular research. In 1956, Sanger recruited Francis Robicsek, the former Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Budapest, Hungary. Robicsek had left his native country after the ill-fated revolution against the Soviets. Sanger‚ and Robicsek‚ clinical partnership, combined with the expanding research facility of the Heineman Foundation and recruitment of top surgical and cardiology specialists, defined the cutting edge of cardiovascular medicine and research in the Carolinas. After Sanger‚ death in 1968, Robicsek took the helm of both Heineman Medical Research Laboratory and the partnership which he then renamed the “Sanger Clinic.” Research conducted at Heineman was procedurally implemented at the Sanger Clinic into clinical practice. The seamless cooperation between the two organizations led to one procedural “first” after another, and the Sanger Clinic became one of the leading cardiac groups in the Southeast.

With Robicsek‚ international influence, Heineman‚ tradition of advancing science and medicine also became a force in improving healthcare in underdeveloped countries in Central America and Eastern Europe. In the 1970s, many children from Guatemala City were flown to Charlotte for life-saving surgery, and Heineman‚ legacy of world outreach was born.

In the early 1980s, Heineman constructed the first shipping container that could transport donor hearts over long distances and, several years later, built the first laser laboratory in the Charlotte region. Laser surgery went on to become an accepted procedure for non-invasive cardiac treatment.

In the 1990s, Thomas Masters, Director of Research, put Heineman Laboratory in the international limelight again when he discovered a method to extend the “life” of a donor heart from four to 18 hours.