To register for your free place at this talk please email Katie Weeks (k.weeks@imperial.ac.uk).
Over 30,000 people undergo cardiac surgery in the UK each year, and the specialty has evolved significantly in the past 50 years, transforming technological innovation into social impact.
New technologies, such as robotic surgery and new stent designs, have benefitted both patients and the economy, but the global recession is starting to take its toll on cardiac surgery as well as cardiovascular research and innovation. The strategic and leadership focus of this discipline needs to be reshaped alongside its funding sources, decision making and perception of risk.
We urgently need to look at ways to retain specialist staff in cardiothoracic surgery and keep them working in the UK. This lecture looks at the challenges facing the speciality in this economic climate.
Biography
Professor Thanos Athanasiou is a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and a Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences & Cardiac Surgery in the Division of Surgery at Imperial. He specialises in complex aortic surgery, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), minimally invasive cardiac surgery and robotic assisted cardiothoracic surgery.
His research focus is surgical innovation and assessment of healthcare technology, with particular interest in patient impact and cardiovascular outcomes. He also has an interest in business management, including health economics and strategy in healthcare.
His team of 50 colleagues are amongst the most productive in the world of methodological research and evidence synthesis in surgery with a specific focus on cardiovascular surgery. As a result Professor Athanasiou has authored and edited two academic textbooks on surgery and evidence synthesis in healthcare.