Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University and Medicine renamed its outpatient center after cardiac surgeon Levi Watkins, MD.
The Levi Watkins Jr., MD, Outpatient Center was rededicated June 8, a university press release said.
Dr. Watkins joined Johns Hopkins Medicine in 1970 as a surgical intern and eventually became the hospital's first Black chief resident in cardiac surgery. In 1980, he performed the world's first implantation of an automatic heart defibrillator in a human.
During his time as associate dean at the school of medicine, Dr. Watkins established the nation's first postdoctoral association and spearheaded a movement to recruit minority applicants.
Dr. Watkins died in April 2015 at 70.