Victor Chang was born in Sydney in 1936 and received his medical training at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney. After qualifying in 1960 he came to London to train in cardiothoracic surgery at the Brompton Hospital, spent a year at the Mayo Clinic, and returned to St Vincent's in 1972, where he won an international reputation for coronary by-pass operations. In 1984 he started the National Heart Transplant Unit at St Vincent's which within seven years reported 197 heart transplant operations and 14 heart-lung transplant operations, with a one-year survival of more than 90%. Victor Chang was by now the best known surgeon in Australia, and had built up an enormous practice not only there, but also in Asia. Although he went out of his way to protect his patients (many of whom, such as Kerry Packer, were famous) from the intrusive attentions of the media, he managed to raise funds for research into an artificial heart, as many of them became his vociferous supporters. He was also working on an affordable heart valve, having in mind the needs of China and other developing countries. For this he was made an honorary professor of surgery in the Chinese Academy of Medical Science. Sadly all of this came to an abrupt end. He was shot dead in the streets of Sydney on 4 July 1991, leaving his wife, a daughter and two sons.