Nationality Egyptian/British Spouse Marianne Yacoub Profession Surgeon | Name Magdi Yacoub Role Surgeon | |
 | ||
Known for Heart and heart-lung transplants. | ||
Similar Fabian Udekwu , Harefield Hospital , | ||
Hearts and minds for surgery interview with dr magdi yacoub learning world s5e12 part 3 3
Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub (Arabic: مجدى حبيب يعقوب [ˈmæɡdi ħæˈbiːb jæʕˈʔuːb]; born 16 November 1935) is an Egyptian-British cardiothoracic surgeon. He is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College London.
Contents
- Hearts and minds for surgery interview with dr magdi yacoub learning world s5e12 part 3 3
- British Heart Foundation Heart transplant surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub
- Early life and career
- The Harefield Transplant Programme
- Andreas Papandreou open heart surgery at Harefield and popularity in Greece
- Recent work
- Other activities and achievements
- Honours and awards
- Guinness World record
- Curriculum vitae
- References
Yacoub's achievements may be summarised:
He was involved in the restart of British heart transplantation in 1980 (there had been a moratorium following the series of three performed by Donald Ross in 1968), carried out the first British live lobe lung transplant and went on to perform more transplants than any other surgeon in the world. A 1980 patient, Derrick Morris, was Europe's longest surviving heart transplant recipient until his death in July 2005. This record was superseded by John McCafferty who received a transplant at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex on 20 October 1982 and survived over 33 years, until 10 February 2016. He was officially recognised as the world's longest surviving heart transplant patient by Guinness World Records in 2013. A March 1978 heart by-pass patient continues to live a very active and fruitful life (as of November, 2016). He is also the head of Magdi Yacoub heart foundation, which launched Aswan Heart project.
British Heart Foundation - Heart transplant surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub
Early life and career
The son of a surgeon of a Coptic Christian family, Yacoub was born on 16 November 1935 in Bilbeis, Al Sharqia, Egypt. He studied at Cairo University and qualified as a doctor in 1957. He reportedly said he decided to specialise in heart surgery after an aunt died of heart disease in her early 20's. He moved to Britain in 1962, then taught at the University of Chicago. He became a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital in 1973. As a visiting professor to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Yacoub, Fabian Udekwu and others performed the first open heart surgery in Nigeria in 1974.
The Harefield Transplant Programme
Under Yacoub's leadership, the Harefield Hospital transplant programme began in 1980 and by the end of the decade he and his team had performed 1000 of the procedures and Harefield Hospital had become the leading UK transplant centre. During this period there was an increase in post-operative survival rates, a reduction in the recovery periods spent in isolation and in the financial cost of each procedure. To remove donor hearts, he would travel thousands of miles each year in small aircraft or helicopters. Most of his patients received treatment under the National Health Service, but some private foreign patients were also treated.
In December 1983 Yacoub performed the UK's first heart and lung transplant at Harefield.
He was appointed professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute in 1986, and was involved in the development of the techniques of heart and heart-lung transplantation.
Andreas Papandreou open heart surgery at Harefield and popularity in Greece
Between August and October 1988 Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was hospitalized at Harefield, which he entered at a very critical condition, and Yacoub performed an open heart triple bypass surgery on the Prime Minister, saving his life. Yacoub has since become famous in Greece (Papandreou's health problems and surgery were the top news stories in Greece for months), and Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou himself said that Yacoub saved him.
Recent work
Having retired from performing surgery for the National Health Service in 2001 at the age of 65, Yacoub continues to act as a high-profile consultant and ambassador for the benefits of transplant surgery. He continues to operate on children through his charity, Chain of Hope.
In 2006 he briefly came out of retirement to advise on a complicated procedure which required removing a transplant heart from a patient whose own heart had recovered. The patient's original heart had not been removed during transplant surgery nearly a decade earlier in the hope it might recover.
In April 2007, it was reported that a British medical research team led by Yacoub had grown part of a human heart valve , from stem cells; a first.
Other activities and achievements
Honours and awards
Yacoub was knighted in the 1992 New Year Honours and awarded the Order of Merit by HM The Queen in the 2014 New Year Honours.
Guinness World record
John McCafferty, an Englishman, received his new heart on 20 October 1982 in a procedure carried out by Yacoub. As of December 2013 McCafferty entered the record books as the world's longest-surviving heart transplant patient, surpassing the previous Guinness World Record of 30 years, 11 months and 10 days set by an American man who died in 2009.