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.
Professor Caputo has 350 publications, H-index 47, >£10m 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
AWARDS, HONOURS & DISTINCTION
2024 Visiting Consultant Cardiac Surgeon/Honorary Professor
Starship Children Hospital, Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora, Auckland, NZ and University of Auckland
2024 Honorary Professor in Cardiac Surgery
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Surgery
University of Auckland, New Zealand
2023 Winner of Best Medicine Radio 4
(https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/illac3rh6iw8txh03oefa/Ep-6-audiogram-Nabil.mp4?rlkey=lhtghciw6nrd1oz73bvqr7bef&dl=0)
2023 Winner of BHF Heart Hero Award
(https://bristol.ac.uk/news/2023/december/bhf-hearthero-award.html)
2023 Member of the National Cardiac Research Improvement Initiative (NCRII)
2022 Professional Expert Advisor for National Institute for Health and Care excellence (NICE)
2022 Mentor of the AATS Marc de Leval Fellowship Program (https://www.aats.org/aatsimis/AATSWeb/Foundation/Programs/Programs/Marc_R._de_Leval/Marc_R._de_Leval_Fellowship.aspx?_zs=WtpcF1&_zl=ua0h6)
2021 Member of the CVD-Covid-UK Consortium Team of the Year Award, HDR UK Annual Award.
2021 Research Advisory Committee (Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Research Foundation, India)
2020 Elected Member (UK and Ireland Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Innovation Committee)
2019 Who Cares Wins Health Award Nomination
2018 Silver Clinical Excellence Award (National Clinical Excellence Award Scheme, UK)
2018 Visiting Professor Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Unit, University of Al Najaar Nablus, Palestine.
2017 BHF Chair in Congenital Heart Surgery
2015 Lead for Cardiac Surgery (Bristol Cardiovascular)
2015 Lead Specialist for Congenital Heart Disease (UK and Ireland Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Research Committee)
2015 Active Membership the American Association for Thoracic Surgery
2015 Bronze Clinical Excellence Award (National Clinical Excellence Award Scheme UK)
2015 Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biochemical Research (£1.5M).
2015 Honorary Cardiac Surgeon for the International Children’s Heart Foundation.
2014 Professor of Surgery and Chief of Paediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, Rush University Medical Centre, Chicago, US.
2008-2017 Theme Leader for Congenital Heart Surgery, Bristol NIHR-BRU-BRC in Cardiovascular Medicine.
2012 John Parker Medal, Annual Meeting of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery Great Britain and Ireland, Manchester.
2011 John Parker Medal, Annual Meeting of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery Great Britain and Ireland, London.
2011 Honorary Member, Syrian British Medical Society.
2008 Chief Surgeon for the charity “Al-Dir Charity Hospital” to establish the congenital cardiac surgical program at the Homs University, Syria.
2006 Honorary Cardiac Surgeon for the charity “Cardiostart” to perform adult and paediatric cardiac surgery in Peru.
2005 Member of the BRI Team winner of the “Hospital Doctor Award 2005” (for Surgery) for the work on beating heart coronary surgery.
2004 Visiting Professor Paediatric Cardiac Unit, University of West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.
2004 Garfield Weston Senior Lecturer Fellowship (2004-2009)
2004 Travelling Fellowship to work at the Paediatric Cardiac Surgical Unit, University of Leiden, The Netherlands.
1999- Visiting Teacher at the annual “International Heart School J.W.Kirklin”, Bergamo, Italy.
1998 Travelling Fellowship to work at the Dept. of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery for a month, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
1998 Distinction (60/60 cum laude), Specialist in Cardiac Surgery, University of Naples, Italy.
1992 MD, Distinction (110/110 cum laude), Final Examination, University of Naples, Italy.
1991 Winner of ERASMUS/ECTS European Community Grant, University of Manchester, UK.
1990 Winner of ERASMUS/ECTS European Community Grant, University of Bristol, UK.
1989 Winner of ERASMUS European Community Grant, Universite’ Catolique de Louven, Belgium.
Additional Information
Web Site: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/bhi/people/massimo-caputo/overview.html
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7508-0891
Scopus h index: 46
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=27dISL0AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
Google Scholar h index : 55
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=27dISL0AAAAJ