Dr. Jonas attended the University of Adelaide Medical School in Adelaide South Australia. He undertook his general surgical training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne Australia and subsequently his cardiothoracic surgical training at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and Green Lane Hospital in Auckland New Zealand. After fellowships at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Boston he was appointed to the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in 1984. In 1994 Dr. Jonas was appointed to the William E Ladd Chair of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and became the Cardiovascular Surgeon in Chief at Children’s Hospital Boston. In 2004 he joined the staff of Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC as the CoDirector of the Children’s Heart Institute and Cohen Funger Professor of Cardiac Surgery. In 2005/6 Dr Jonas was the President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and in 2009/10 was President of the Congenital Heart Surgeon’s Society of North America. He is currently vice-President of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.

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Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub is a British-Egyptian cardiothoracic surgeon. He is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College London.

Yacoub’s major achievements may be summarised:

• establishing heart transplantation in UK and becoming the world’s leading transplant surgeon
• establishing and becoming a master of the ‘Ross Procedure’ or pulmonary autograft, including a randomised control trial
• pioneering the modern arterial switch operation
• promoting the use of left ventricular assist devices for the ‘Bridge to Recovery’ and establishing the largest experience in the world
• establishing the Heart Science Centre, Magdi Yacoub Institute for research into the causes and treatment of cardiac disease
• establishing the Chain of Hope Charity which provides cardiothoracic surgical care to the developing world
• championing academic medicine, humanitarian surgery and becoming an example of a minority surgeon who has flourished in an institution-dominated field.

He was involved in the restart of British heart transplantation in 1980 (there had been a moratorium following the series of three performed by Donald Ross in 1968), carried out the first British live lobe lung transplant and went on to perform more transplants than any other surgeon in the world. A 1980 patient, Derrick Morris, was Europe’s longest surviving heart transplant recipient until his death in July 2005.

Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub is a British-Egyptian cardiothoracic surgeon. He is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College London.

Yacoub’s major achievements may be summarised:

• establishing heart transplantation in UK and becoming the world’s leading transplant surgeon
• establishing and becoming a master of the ‘Ross Procedure’ or pulmonary autograft, including a randomised control trial
• pioneering the modern arterial switch operation
• promoting the use of left ventricular assist devices for the ‘Bridge to Recovery’ and establishing the largest experience in the world
• establishing the Heart Science Centre, Magdi Yacoub Institute for research into the causes and treatment of cardiac disease
• establishing the Chain of Hope Charity which provides cardiothoracic surgical care to the developing world
• championing academic medicine, humanitarian surgery and becoming an example of a minority surgeon who has flourished in an institution-dominated field.

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Aldo R. Castañeda is a pioneer in pediatric cardiac surgery. He has been a vigorous supporter of early correction of complex cardiac malformations in infants and newborns. These efforts culminated in the successful repair of transposition in neonates, giving rise to the modern era of neonatal cardiac surgery. Under his mentorship William Norwood developed the Norwood operation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

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Aldo R. Castañeda is a pioneer in pediatric cardiac surgery. He has been a vigorous supporter of early correction of complex cardiac malformations in infants and newborns. These efforts culminated in the successful repair of transposition in neonates, giving rise to the modern era of neonatal cardiac surgery. Under his mentorship William Norwood developed the Norwood operation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Dr. Castañeda received his training at the University of Guatemala and the University of Minnesota. Upon completion, he remained at Minnesota as a faculty member. In 1972 he accepted an appointment as Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief at The Children’s Hospital in Boston and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. From 1981 to 1994 he served as Surgeon-in-Chief at The Children’s Hospital. Dr. Castañeda’s many contributions to pediatric cardiac surgery are remarkable and well documented in his more than 400 scientific articles and two books.

Dr. Castañeda’s work has spanned the globe. Upon retirement he returned to Guatemala and developed one of the most successful programs for pediatric cardiac surgery in Central America. More than forty of Dr. Castañeda’s trainees have served as chiefs of Pediatric Cardiac Units at institutions across the globe. In 2006 he was appointed to the Pediatric Cardiology Hall of Fame.

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Dr. Norwood trained in cardiac surgery at the University of Minnesota as well as at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston. He took a staff position at Children’s Hospital Boston in 1976 where he conceived the HLHS repair that bears his name. From Boston he moved on to become chief of cardiac surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1994 he and Aldo Castaneda established a private clinic in Geneva, Switzerland. Following Dr Castaneda’s retirement he moved to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington Delaware. Dr Norwood retired from clinical practice in 2003.

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Dr. Norwood trained in cardiac surgery at the University of Minnesota as well as at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston. He took a staff position at Children’s Hospital Boston in 1976 where he conceived the HLHS repair that bears his name. From Boston he moved on to become chief of cardiac surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1994 he and Aldo Castaneda established a private clinic in Geneva, Switzerland. Following Dr Castaneda’s retirement he moved to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington Delaware. Dr Norwood retired from clinical practice in 2003.