BHF LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2025 – Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub

Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub was only four or five years old when he told his father, “Dad I’m going to be a heart surgeon.”

As a child, seeing his beloved father – a general surgeon - struggle to cope with the tragedy of losing his younger sister (Sir Magdi’s aunt) at 22 from heart valve disease, he was inspired to devote his life to changing the face of cardiovascular medicine for thousands of patients. This talented surgeon, trailblazing researcher, and tireless charity campaigner has pioneered scientific innovation and saved lives over seven decades. Yet Sir Magdi remains incredibly humble.

“My dad fell to pieces when he lost his sister whom he loved so much,” Sir Magdi explains. “He told me that there were surgeons in the UK and US starting to open the heart valve and that this disaster could have been prevented. From then, I just followed my dream.”

Born in Egypt, Sir Magdi graduated from Cairo University Medical School in 1957. His incredible impact in the field of cardiovascular medicine spans across borders; Sir Magdi has worked and developed cardiac services in many countries including the US, Egypt, Nigeria, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, alongside the UK. He has worked tirelessly to tackle inequalities in the delivery of global cardiac healthcare.

Sir Magdi served as the first BHF Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery for more than 20 years and established the largest heart and lung transplantation programme in the world at Harefield Hospital.

His incredible expertise and creativity have led to many medical milestones. He invented and improved several important heart surgeries, including during the 1970s when he pioneered the arterial switch procedure, used to correct transposition of the great arteries - a congenital heart defect. He operated on Europe’s longest-surviving heart transplant patient, performed the UK’s first combined heart and lung transplant and carried out the UK’s first ‘piggyback transplant’ - where a donor heart is grafted onto the patient’s own failing heart, allowing it the chance to recover.

Of his pioneering surgeries, he reflects: “I was always asking myself what could I do to help a patient who had no other chance of being cured. I would think and think about it… Then when the time came to perform the surgery I knew precisely what I was going to do and more often than not, it did work. There is nothing more exciting that seeing a patient who is about to die or in dire trouble coming to life again.

“When transplantation started, we were greeted with a lot of scepticism …but now I’m so delighted when a patient comes to see me 36 years after transplantation and brings his children and grandchildren.”

On his long-time association with BHF, Sir Magdi says: “Being a BHF Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery meant a lot to me because I’ve always admired the research BHF funds. I’m proud to have served the charity for so long. Supporting BHF research is an investment in humanity.” We are thrilled to be presenting Sir Magdi with the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Heart Heroes. We can think of no more deserving recipient.

To find out more about the BHF Heart Hero Awards, please visit https://www.bhf.org.uk/heartheroes

If you would like to help power our lifesaving research, please visit https://www.bhf.org.uk/hhadonate