Magdi Yacoub

Built the transplant service at Harefield Hospital into what Alivizatos calls the greatest heart and lung transplant service in the world, with more than 2,500 cases by the end of his career, including Europe's first combined heart and lung transplant in 1983.

Pioneered operations for babies born with congenital heart defects, performing the first arterial 'switch' operations in the UK on infants whose main arteries were reversed and introducing a two-stage approach to the repair.

Took heart surgery to countries with little access to it, founding the Chain of Hope charity and, with his foundation, the Aswan Heart Centre in Egypt, which the BMA says is now a training centre for doctors across Africa.

In September 1973 he performed a heart transplant despite a national moratorium; the patient died within hours and he drew criticism from colleagues, but when new drugs arrived he performed three transplants in early 1980.

This is consistent with willingness to take a high-risk course against professional opinion, at real cost to patients and to his standing. Risk Tolerance

A colleague recalls him finishing at 3 am, sleeping a couple of hours, then operating at several private hospitals in the evenings, staying calm even after two sleepless nights.

This is consistent with unusual stamina and sustained effort in a demanding practice. Persistence

After retiring from NHS surgery in 2001 he founded a science centre at Harefield and went on to help found the Aswan Heart Centre, shifting from operating to research, training and building heart centres abroad.

This is consistent with a move from personal surgical work toward building institutions that spread cardiac care. Impact Motivation