My undergraduate and postgraduate training was completed at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. I then visited specialised centres in the U.S.A. to obtain additional surgical skills and completed a PhD on ‘protecting the heart during cardiac surgery’ at the University of Cape Town in 1992.
I was appointed to the Chris Barnard Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1993. I then relocated to Cardiff, Wales in October 2001.
I have maintained my academic research interests having published 22 book chapters and more than 80 original manuscripts in professional journals on multiple aspects of heart surgery.
My clinical practice has high percentage of heart valve as well as combined valve and coronary artery bypass graft patients. The independent Quality Care Commission of the UK monitors & reports surgical results in terms of risk stratified patient survival; which takes into account a patient’s other illnesses affecting other body organs, age, and lifestyle which affect a patient’s chances of surviving major heart surgery. They have reported that the actual survival of all patients I treated in the 3 years up to March 2007 was 98.5%, which was ‘higher than expected’ compared to European standards.