Starr was born in New York, New York, on June 1, 1926.[2] He received his B.A. degree from Columbia College (now Columbia University) in 1946 and his M.D. degree from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1949. He then went on to do his internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his residency in general and thoracic surgery at the Bellevue and Presbyterian Hospitals of Columbia University. He was an assistant in surgeon at Columbia University until 1957, when he moved to Oregon—having been enticed, in part, by the Oregon Heart Association's promises to help fund his research and to take him salmon fishing. There he worked for the Crippled Children's Division at the University of Oregon Medical School (now the Oregon Health and Science University). Starr was an instructor in surgery when he met Lowell Edwards in September 1958. Starr has said of this meeting, "He was in his 60s and I was in my 30s, but there was no generation gap between us."
Starr-Edwards mitral valve
Starr helped invent the world's first durable artificial mitral valve[3] and is credited with being a co-inventor of the world's first artificial heart valve in 1960.[4]
Starr died on December 11, 2024, at the age of 98.[5]
