Professor Zaheer Yousef

I studied medicine at Guys Hospital and undertook junior medical training on the London teaching hospital circuit. After gaining membership of the Royal College of Physicians, I was awarded a British Heart Foundation grant for a research fellowship at St Thomas' Hospital. My research which focused on the care of patients with heart attacks and heart failure received International attention, has been published widely, and has formed the basis of National guidelines. I was awarded several Young-Investigator of the Year prizes and a Doctorate in Medicine for this work. I completed my specialist training in cardiology, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, and complex pacing in London, Cardiff, and Birmingham and was appointed consultant cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales in 2005 to lead and develop the heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and complex pacing services for the region. We currently have an established tertiary referral multi-disciplinary heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and complex pacing service which has been recognised through the award of several National prizes, including; MediWales awards for medical innovation (2019 and 2022), NHS Wales award for value-based health care (2022), and a National NHS clinical excellence award in 2021. I have maintained an interest in research and innovation and to date have raised >£2million in research funds and supervised 7 Md/PhD fellows. I continue to publish in high impact peer-reviewed journals (>100 publications to date) and have been awarded honorary chairs in cardiovascular medicine for research at Cardiff University, University of East Anglia, and Cardiff Metropolitan University. My current research interests lie in the fields of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) and the expanding role of biventricular pacing in patients with heart failure. I regularly undertake charitable missions in sub-Saharan Africa to teach and train cardiologists in pacemaker implantation. Recognising the challenges of delivering these treatments in low-middle income regions, I helped establish sustainable pacing services in Sierra Leone (Ethiopia pending, but delayed due to COVID pandemic) through the use of recycled pacemakers. This program has been the subject of a BBC World Service bulletin. I have served as the President of the Cardiff Medical Association, Secretary of the Welsh Cardiovascular Society, and currently sit on the boards of the British Society of Heart Failure, Pan-African Society of Cardiology, Heart Research Wales charity, and the Football Association cardiac consensus panel. Sadly, sporting prowess these days is limited to spectatorship and providing cardiac assesments for the Welsh Rugby Union, Football Association of Wales, and local sporting disciplines.

Heart Failure, Cardiomyopathies (including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, inherited cardiomyopathies, sarcoidosis, and amyloid heart disease), Sports Cardiology & screening of elite athletes, Pulmonary Hypertension, General Cardiology, Implantation of pacemakers, Defibrillators, Biventricular Pacemakers.