Chee Voon Soong was a leading vascular surgeon in Belfast and pioneer of endograft placement for ruptured aortic aneurysm. He was born in Ipoh, Malaya, on 7 June 1961, the son of two teachers. He was sent to the Methodist College, Belfast, for his early education, from which he went on to the Queen'

Daniel de Gourêt Villet was a surgeon in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He was born in South Africa, the son of Daniel du Plessis Villet, a chartered accountant, and Agnes Cecilia Villet née Huxham, a secretary. The Villet family was descended from a Frenchman, Charles Matharin Villet, a naturalist a

André Nevelsteen was head of vascular surgery at the University Hospital of Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium. He was born in Geel on 8 August 1951. He studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, graduating in 1975. He went on to train in general surgery and then specialised in vascular surg

John Richard Kenyon, known as ‘Ian’, was a former consultant vascular surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. His father, who was a general practitioner in Glasgow, died when Ian was just 13. His mother had been a Queen Alexandra nursing sister on various hospital ships during the Gallipoli campa

Vettivetpillai Ketharanathan or ‘Nathan’ was a senior research associate at the vascular surgery unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia. He was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on 25 November 1935 to Appiah Ketharanathan and Rukmani Nama (Sivayam) Ketharanathan, who were both teachers.

Koon-Sung (‘KS’) Cheng was a vascular surgical registrar at the Royal Free Hospital, London. He was born in Hong Kong, but came to England with his family in 1977. When he arrived he spoke very little English, but made rapid progress at Uckfield Comprehensive School. He went on to study medicine at

Martin Birnstingl was a consultant vascular surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and was widely respected for his expertise and for his clear and concise teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students. He was also a consultant surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and serv

Geoffrey Gilling-Smith was a consultant vascular surgeon at Royal Liverpool Hospital. He was born on 15 November 1955 at St George's Hospital, London, the son of Dryden Gilling-Smith, a businessman. His mother, who was head of the physics and chemistry department at the French Lycée in South Kensing

Geoffrey Evans was an associate professor of surgery at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was born on 25 January 1935 in Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, Wales, the son of William Garfield Evans, a schoolmaster, and Hannah Evans née James. He attended Mountain Ash Grammar School and then st

Christopher Savage was a consultant vascular surgeon at Leamington and Warwick Hospital. He was born in Kingston on Thames on 31 August 1915. His father, Arthur Livingstone Savage, was an architect, and his mother was the artist Agnes Kate Richardson. He was educated at Gate House School, Kingston,

John Drew Hamer was a vascular surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. He was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on 2 November 1936. His father, John Llewellyn Hamer, was a headmaster, while his mother, Mabel Irene née Hawkins, was a nurse. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Nuneato

Harry Hubert Grayson Eastcott, known as ‘Felix’, was the first man to perform carotid endarterectomy, thereby preventing strokes in countless patients. He was born in Montreal, Canada, on 17 October 1917, the son of Henry George Eastcott, a resident engineer with the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Gl