I qualified as a medical doctor and then as a Cardiothoracic surgeon in Johannesburg, South Africa. Subsequently I was appointed to the Chris Barnard Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery, at the University of Cape Town and Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Groote Schuur and Red Cross Children’s War Memorial Hospital from 1993 to 2001.
In 1999 I took a sabbatical and worked at the University of Leipzig, Germany, to gain further experience in:
• Minimally invasive valve surgery, specifically the Mitral valve.
• Off-pump multi-vessel coronary artery bypass graft surgery
• Left atrial radio-frequency ablation procedure for Atrial fibrillation.
• Clinical Robotic surgical procedures – Intuitive & Aesop systems
In 2001, I relocated to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
My research and special clinical interests include protecting the heart muscle during open heart surgery, protecting the spinal cord during aortic surgery, curative surgery for abnormal heart rhythms including atrial fibrillation, mitral and tricuspid heart valve repair surgery, aortic root , ascending, descending and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm surgery as well as minimally invasive approaches to cardiac surgery.
I have more than 150 publications in journals and books on various topics related to cardiothoracic surgery, delivered numerous scientific presentations at professional congresses and am a reviewer for and on the editorial board of a number of leading international cardiothoracic surgical journals.
I was nominated and appointed both by the European Society of Cardiology and European Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons to be a member of the Task Force to update the European Guidelines for the Management of Valvular Heart Disease in 2010; published in 2012. In 2014 I was nominated and appointed as an independent expert to advise the European Commission on Grant applications for the Horizon 2020 Project - Personalising Health & Care.
Training Attended
Johannesburg, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Qualifications & Accreditations
PhD - University of Cape Town. South Africa; 1992.
FETCS – European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons. The Netherlands; 2001.
FCS (SA) - Cardiothoracic Surgery, College of Medicine, South Africa; 1986.
Dip Av Med (Diploma in Aviation Medicine), SA Institute of Aviation Medicine; 1979.
MB BCh (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery), University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; 1977.
Additional Information
Independant Feedback 2014.pdfUvO Publications 2015.pdf
Adult Cardiac Surgery
SCTS Committees
This consultant has not been a member of any SCTS committees.
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