Massimo Caputo: British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professor of Congenital Heart Surgery.
He established one of the UK’s largest paediatric academic cardiac surgery unit, comprising internationally renowned teams developing innovative surgical procedures and new health technologies, and providing an evidence base to improve short-term complications and long-term outcomes in adult and paediatric patients.
He has created an environment at the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) where clinicians, basic scientists and clinical research methodologists thrive and interact productively to produce world-leading research. Under his leadership, the congenital heart unit in Bristol has achieved recognition for attracting promising individuals and supporting them to develop careers in clinical academic and basic science, including holding prominent national and international positions, Professor H Imura (Tokyo University), Professor U Benedetto, Drs G Biglino and V Mascetti (Bristol University).
Professor Caputo has 250 publications, H-index 37, >£5m research awards as Principal Investigator (PI) and >£5m as co-PI. He has been successfully translating cardiac surgery innovations for congenital heart disease (CHD) from basic science discoveries into ‘first-in-man’ studies and into established clinical practice. He has led multiple clinical trials, which have changed clinical practice, most prominently in the areas of warm vs cold cardioplegia and normothermic and normoxic cardiopulmonary bypass, the optimal use of blood transfusion and less invasive and hybrid valve technologies. Under the prestigious Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biochemical Research, he has been investigating the potential of stem cells reconstruction and regenerative medicine to improve long term outcome and quality of life in children born with CHD undergoing heart surgery. He has demonstrated the capacity of stem cell tissue engineering strategy to create living tissue matrix with the potential to grow, remodel and repair the heart. To achieve this, he has brought together basic and clinical cardiovascular scientists as well as forging strong partnerships with both industry and other research centres in the UK and abroad.
Supported by the NIHR-BRC, he implemented Outcome Monitoring After Cardiac Surgery (OMACp); routine capture of trial-quality data about in-hospital serious acute event (SAE, including, blood loss, acute kidney injury, lung dysfunction, neurological complications) and long-term follow-up in all consenting paediatric patients, alongside collection of blood, urine, pericardial fluid and tissue samples during surgery (up to date >1000 paediatric cardiac surgery patients, and their mothers). He has recruited three other centres (Leicester, GOSH and Dublin) and obtained ethics to start consenting participants during the foetal period.
He has been instrumental in driving the development of the current BRC and active in creating crosslinks across the organisation increasing interdigitation of activities of his group with those of Population Health, Surgical Innovation and Perinatal and Reproductive Health to give a clear cut added value. As indication of his international reputation, Professor Caputo has been invited over the years to set up congenital cardiac surgery units in several developing countries (Syria, Palestine, Trinidad & Tobago) and as Director he was invited in 2014-15 to reorganise the Congenital Heart Surgery Department at the RUSH University Medical Center in Chicago (he remains Visiting Professor
Training Attended
University of Naples, Italy
University of Bristol, UK
University of Leiden, The Netherlands
Qualifications & Accreditations
MD, MCh, FRCS
Additional Information
Web Site: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/bhi/people/massimo-caputo/overview.html
Orcid:
Adult Cardiac Surgery
SCTS Committees
This consultant is or was a member of the following committees, click on any committee to see more information: