Born in Belfast in 1940, Caves was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He entered medical school at Queen's University, Belfast, in 1958, graduated in 1964, and began a period of general surgical training in Belfast and Edinburgh. After taking the Edinburgh Fellowship in 1968 he began

Saulat Jahan was professor of surgery at the Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women and a consultant surgeon at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, where she was known for her care of the sick, poor and destitute. She was born and raised in Delhi and gained her MB BS degree from Lady Hard

James Keith Ross was a leading cardiac surgeon, and one of the team that performed the first cardiac transplant in Britain. He was born in London on 9 May 1927. His father, Sir James Paterson Ross, was later to become professor of surgery at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Surgeon to the Royal Household

Eoin O’Malley was a cardiac surgeon and a past president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He was born on 5 April 1919 in Galway, where his father was professor of surgery. From Clongowes Wood College he went to medical school, at first in Galway and later at University College, Dublin, w

Denis Melrose played a crucial role in designing and developing the first heart-lung machine. He was born in Cape Town on 20 June 1921, the son of Thomas Robert Gray Melrose, a surgeon, and Floray Collings. The family went to England before the Second World War, and Denis was educated at Sedbergh an

Wilfred Gordon ‘Bill’ Bigelow, who helped develop the first electronic pacemaker, was a professor of cardiac surgery at the University of Toronto and a pioneering heart surgeon. He was born in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1913. His father, Wilfred Bigelow, had founded the first medical clinic in Canada. Bi

Bruce Leckie was a cardiac surgeon at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. This is a draft obituary. If you have any information about this surgeon or are interested in writing this obituary, please email lives@rcseng.ac.uk

Ian McMillan was born on 14 June 1922 in Birmingham, the second son of Kenneth Holl MacMillan, (Lives 1974-82) consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician, and Elizabeth (née Smyth). His uncle was a chest physician, his wife a physiotherapist and her parents general practitioners. He was educated at t

Frank Harland Mills was a pioneering Australian heart surgeon. He was born on 20 June 1910 in Armidale, New South Wales, and grew up on the south coast of the state, mostly around Ulladulla. Frank's mother died when he was young, and his father, a local magistrate, had to raise Frank, his brother Ro

Kenneth Bloor was born on 14 May 1926, the son of William and Aida Bloor, of Earlstown, Lancashire. He was educated at Newton-le-Willows Grammar School, from where, with a county scholarship, he went to Manchester University, graduating MB ChB in 1949. He was house surgeon to Professor A M Boyd a

Graham Venn was a consultant cardiac surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and, for the last decade of his life, at the centre of British cardiac surgery. He was part of all aspects of the discipline, from being passionate about training junior surgeons, to overseeing cardiac surgical

John Patrick Richardson was born on 18 July 1928 at Port Pirie, South Australia. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' College in Adelaide from which he gained a Commonwealth Government Scholarship to study medicine at the University of Adelaide. He qualified in 1952 and after two years during