Magdi Yacoub
Sir Magdi Yacoub is an Egyptian-British cardiac surgeon and transplant pioneer. He built Harefield Hospital’s heart-lung transplantation programme and performed Europe’s first combined heart-lung transplant in 1983. Through his foundation, he established Aswan Heart Centre to deliver free, world-class care and training—and was awarded the UK Order of Merit in 2014.
Magdi Yacoub EOTW #1 (30 September 2025)
Across a landmark career, Yacoub transformed heart surgery and transplantation. At Harefield Hospital he created what became the world’s largest heart-and-lung transplant programme and, in 1983, carried out Europe’s first combined heart-lung transplant—work he has reflected on publicly at its 40th anniversary.
He later served as Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College London and founded the Harefield Heart Science Centre (now the Magdi Yacoub Institute). In Egypt, his Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation opened the Aswan Heart Centre in 2009 to provide state-of-the-art care free of charge while advancing research and training the next generation.
National honours include a knighthood and, in 2014, the rare UK Order of Merit, recognising outstanding contributions to science and medicine.