Sir Magdi Yacoub OM KB FMedSci FRS

Magdi Yacoub is a heart surgeon, well known for his contribution to transplant surgery. While interest in this emerging field began to wane due to patient deaths, Magdi continued his research. He subsequently developed a treatment that suppressed the immune system, preventing transplant patients from rejecting their new organs.

His work has helped many cardiothoracic surgery patients to make a full recovery by developing better ways of managing their care in the initial days and weeks after surgery. Magdi carried out the first heart and lung transplant in the United Kingdom and has since carried out more transplant operations than any other surgeon worldwide, building Harefield Hospital into the largest transplant unit in the world.

Magdi has also saved many lives by developing a surgical technique for babies born with a congenital heart defect known as arterial transposition. He is the founder and president of the Chain of Hope charity, which provides free surgery to children from developing or war-torn countries with life threatening heart conditions, and received a knighthood in 1992.

Sir Magdi Yacoub OM KB FMedSci FRS
Elected 1999