Nikan Hoorijani

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Nikan Hoorijani- Events Lead

Nikan Hoorijani is a third-year medical student at the University of Glasgow, about to begin an intercalated BSc in Cardiovascular Sciences. He serves as Events Lead on the SCTS Student Education Committee, where he leads the committee's national programme of events designed to bring students into early, direct contact with cardiothoracic surgery.

His conviction is a straightforward one: that exposing students to the breadth of the speciality early, and supporting the juniors who will one day practise it, is among the most direct ways to shape the quality of patient care in the years to come. The events below are built around that aim.

His intercalated research, supervised by Mr W K Edward Peng, is a Scottish multicentre randomised crossover trial comparing three-dimensional extended-reality teaching with two-dimensional video for congenital cardiac morphology.

As Events Lead, Nikan is responsible for the committee's national events programme: the series and days that connect students and early-career clinicians directly with the speciality, its surgeons, and the evidence that underpins it. The work spans international webinar series, landmark-trial teaching, and national hands-on days, delivered in collaboration with faculty and partners across the United Kingdom and internationally.

A series of high-impact evening webinars bringing leading international and national faculty to a global student and trainee audience.

Global Cardiothoracic Surgery Evening

Mr Kamran Babazadeh  —  Clinical Director Cardiac Surgery, Milad and Bahman Hospitals Tehran; minimally invasive cardiac surgery and valve repair

Mr W K Edward Peng  —  Consultant Congenital Cardiac Surgeon, Scottish Paediatric Cardiac Service, Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow

Mr Tim Fabrice Tientcheu  —  General Surgeon, Ministry of Health Cameroon

Recording to follow.

Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery Evening

Ms Heen Shamaz  —  Medical student, University of Edinburgh; former INSINC student lead

Ms Jacie Law  —  ST3 in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Brompton Hospital

Dr Anna Minasyan  —  Consultant Thoracic Surgeon, La Coruña University Hospital

Ms Ralitsa Baranowski  —  Consultant Thoracic and Robotic Surgeon, Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast; Co-Chair, SCTS Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery

Recording to follow.

Making Cardiothoracic Surgery Safer Evening

Mr Aman Coonar  —  Consultant Thoracic Surgeon, Royal Papworth Hospital; NHS National Clinical Lead for Thoracic Surgery; President, SCTS

Mr Sam Nashef  —  Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Royal Papworth Hospital; lead of the EuroSCORE Project

Dr Manuel Castellà  —  Head of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Clínic, and Professor, University of Barcelona; former Chairman, EACTS Arrhythmia Surgery Task Force

Recording to follow.

An ongoing series making landmark cardiothoracic evidence accessible to students and early-career clinicians.

ISCHEMIA trial  —  Mr Harry Smith, Cardiothoracic Surgery Registrar, Hammersmith Hospital, London

SYNTAX trial  —  Mr Jonathan Strickland, Cardiothoracic Surgery Registrar, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast

LAAOS III trial  —  Mr Fadi Al-Zubaidi, Cardiothoracic Surgery Registrar, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford

ROMA / ART trials  —  Mr Ramanish Ravishankar, Cardiothoracic Surgery Registrar, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

The TEST trial  —  Ms Nicole Asemota, Cardiothoracic Surgery Registrar, Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge

Recordings to follow.

SCTS Annual Meeting University Day 2026 (Belfast)

A full-day national student programme exploring the breadth of cardiothoracic surgery.

Mr Joel Dunning  —  Consultant Thoracic Surgeon, James Cook University Hospital; CTSNet Editor-in-Chief (thoracic surgery)

Professor Mark Danton  —  Consultant Congenital Cardiac Surgeon, Scottish Paediatric Cardiac Service (congenital cardiac surgery)

Mr Rana Sayeed  —  Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Oxford University Hospitals (adult cardiac surgery)

Ms Sara Volpi  —  Cardiothoracic Surgery Registrar, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital (entering the training pathway)

Mr Luke Rogers  —  Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, University Hospitals Plymouth (opened the Pat Magee Student Presentation Session)

Dry- and wet-lab simulations in aortic, coronary and mitral technique were supported by Ethicon, Edwards and surgeons from Basildon Hospital. The closing panel featured Mr Aman Coonar, Ms Alessia Rossi, Ms Sara Volpi, Mr Doug West and Mr Jason Ali.

 

Cardiothoracic Immersion Day (25 July 2026, St Bartholomew's Hospital)

A collaboration between the London School of Cardiothoracics and the SCTS Student Education Committee. Fifty medical students spend a day learning the fundamentals of cardiothoracic surgery through hands-on simulation across adult cardiac, thoracic and congenital surgery.

Mr Jason Ali  —  Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Royal Papworth Hospital

Mr Alex Shipolini  —  Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, St Bartholomew's Hospital

Mr Sasha Stamenkovic  —  Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, St Bartholomew's Hospital

Professor Paul Sergeant  —  Emeritus Professor of Cardiac Surgery, KU Leuven

Professor Massimo Caputo  —  Professor of Congenital Cardiac Surgery, University of Bristol

Mr Ikenna Omeje  —  Clinical Director & Consultant Congenital Cardiac Surgeon, East Midlands Heart Centre

 

Student Engagement Day

Nikan co-leads the organisation of the national Student Engagement Day, including the formal university bidding process.

The committee's events programme continues to grow in reach and ambition. Nikan works alongside the wider SCTS Student Education Committee and its faculty and partners to widen access to cardiothoracic surgery for the next generation of students and trainees, wherever they are.