Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor, founding chairman of the Al-Habtoor Group and founder of the Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor Achievement Award, honored Egyptian cardiothoracic surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub for his accomplishments in the fields of cardiothoracic surgery and transplants. The ceremony was held on May 29 at Khalaf Al-Habtoor Majlis on Al-Wasl Road in Dubai.
Knighted for services to medicine and surgery in 1992 and awarded the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014, Yacoub is dubbed as the world’s most prolific heart and lung transplant surgeon. As professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London and founder and director of research at the Harefield Heart Science Center (Magdi Yacoub Institute), he has established the largest heart and lung transplantation program in the world where more than 2,500 transplant operations have been performed. Yacoub has pioneered a number of operations to correct congenital heart conditions and improve heart transplant surgery, and was the first to perform heart and lung transplant in the UK at Harefield Hospital in 1983.
Yacoub was born in Egypt and graduated from Cairo University Medical School in 1957. He trained in London and held an assistant professorship at the University of Chicago.
Al-Habtoor said: “God has created people and assigned a role for each individual to achieve in his life. Respect is due to all those who would assume this role to the fullest extent possible, and whose work has a great impact on the life of their brethren and future generations. In recognition of these contributions, I launched the Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor Achievement Award to honor great achievers in various fields.”
He added: “Education is the key to all success. It is an unmatched tool for advancement. That’s why we honor today Professor Yacoub to thank him for all his contributions to science that have driven Egypt and the Arab world to higher levels.”
Yacoub said: “I’m very honored and grateful to receive this award from Khalaf Al-Habtoor who recognizes the importance of raising awareness about heart diseases in the Arab world. No one is immune from heart diseases and we have exceptional young talent in the Arab world who can help in combatting such diseases through education and research.”
Yacoub is a recipient of several lifetime achievement awards in recognition of his contribution to medicine.