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Cardiothoracic Services

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Cardiothoracic Surgery consultants

Consultant biographies

Ms Elizabeth Belcher PhD MRCP FRCS (CTh) MFST Ed

Consultant Thoracic Surgeon

Oxford Thoracic Surgery has excellent results having received positive outlier status for good practice in the English National Lung Cancer Clinical Outcomes Publication for the year 2018 and 2019.

Oxford Thoracic Surgery was identified as an example of good practice for achieving high resection rates in the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) review by pre-habilitation programmes.

Our CT follow-up programme after lung cancer surgery offers every patient who has their lung cancer operated on in our department the opportunity for protocolised follow-up care via CT scanning for five years.

For the small number of patients who develop further disease, our programme has been shown to identify the majority of this disease at a stage when further radical treatments may be offered.

Thoracic Surgery patients in Oxford have the opportunity to enter into studies including VIOLET Trial (lung cancer), MIST3 (pleural infection) and ORIF (rib fixation in trauma).

Special interests

Diagnosis, staging, treatment and palliation of primary and secondary lung cancer and other cancer by minimally-invasive, open and endobronchial techniques.

VATS lung cancer, parathyroidectomy, endobronchial and surgical lung volume reduction and trauma including rib fixation.

Contact details

Tenisha Joseph: 01865 220240
Email: tenisha.joseph@ouh.nhs.uk

Elizabeth Belcher

Mr Francesco Di Chiara MD MS Thor(Hons) FEBCTS

Consultant Thoracic Surgeon
Mr Francesco Di Chiara is a Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals, where he introduced uniportal VATS surgery (single incision key-hole).

He has been involved in teaching peer consultant colleagues. He regularly performs advanced cases including sleeve lobectomies, chest wall resections and segmentectomies with this technique.

Furthermore he has worked alongside the multidisciplinary team to improve the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathway following thoracic surgery. He has several active collaborations acting as an educator in minimally-invasive thoracic surgery at an international level.

His background experience includes cardiothoracic transplantation and cardiac surgery.

He has an interest in chest wall, thoracic spinal and trauma surgery and is the Principal Investigator for Oxford in a national randomised control trial on the management of rib fractures funded by NIHR.

He regularly delivers anatomy teachings for students at Oxford University Medical School.

Special interests

  • Lung cancer
  • Sarcoma
  • Chest wall surgery
  • Diaphragmatic surgery
  • Rib fixation

Contact details

Tenisha Joseph: 01865 220240
Email: tenisha.joseph@ouh.nhs.uk

Mr Francesco di Chiara

Mr Antonios Kourliouros PhD FRCS(CTh)

Consultant Cardiac Surgeon

Mr Antonios Kourliouros is a Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. He trained in cardiothoracic surgery within the London rotation and sub-specialised in heart and lung transplantation at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.

Mr Kourliouros is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in cardiothoracic surgery and obtained his PhD from St George's University of London.

Contact details

Kaylee Moylan: 01865 226168
Email: kaylee.moylan@ouh.nhs.uk

Private

Carol Perryman: 07773 009435
Email: carol.perryman@ouh.nhs.uk

Prof George Krasopoulos MD PhD MRCS(Eng) FRCS (C-Th) (Eng)

Consultant Cardiac Surgeon and Honorary Professor in Cardiac Surgery

Professor George Krasopoulos became a consultant cardiac surgeon in 2008 and joined the Oxford Heart Centre team in July 2013.

In 2019 he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor in Cardiac Surgery and he remains affiliated with the universities of Oxford, Cumbria, Anglia Ruskin and Buckingham.

He finished his surgical training in England and specialised in cardiothoracic surgery within the East London Rotation. He gained his PhD in 1999 and undertook a fellowship alongside Professor Tirone David at Toronto, Canada, where he sub-specialised in advanced aortic repairs and reconstructive cardiac surgery.

He favours minimally-invasive, cosmetic approaches for the performance of all regular cardiac surgical procedures, using techniques to minimise surgical trauma in the majority of cardiac operations.

Special interests

  • Adult cardiac surgery
    • Complex aortic surgery
    • Aortic valve and root repairs/replacments
    • Aortic aneurysms
    • Frozen elephant trunk hybrid repairs
  • Complex coronary artery bypass surgery
    • Arterial grafts - on/off pump
    • Arrhythmia surgery
    • Hybrid Convergent Procedure
    • Concomitant Cardioablation
  • Surgery for pericardial diseases
  • Surgery for left atrial appendage
  • Less invasive procedures
  • TAVI

Research interests

  • Aortic surgery
  • Coronary artery surgery
  • Arrhythmia surgery
  • Surgery for pericardial disease
  • Reconstructive surgery
  • Less invasive and hybrid procedures

Contact details

Sue Foster: 01865 572819
Email: sue.foster@ouh.nhs.uk

Private

Cardiosurgeon.co.uk

George Krasopoulos - ResearchGate

George Krasopoulos

Mr Rana Sayeed BM BCh PhD MRCP FRCS(C-Th)

Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Mr Rana Sayeed studied Medical Sciences at the University of Cambridge before graduating from Oxford University Medical School in 1991.

After completing postgraduate basic surgical and medical training, he returned to Cambridge for his PhD studying altered gene expression in heart disease as a Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellow.

He specialised in cardiothoracic surgery at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich, followed by a Fellowship in General Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation at the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in Cardiothoracic Surgery and a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Rana was appointed as a Consultant in Oxford in 2007. He performs all aspects of adult cardiac surgery and has specialist expertise in mitral valve surgery, particularly mitral valve repair. He was Clinical Lead for Cardiac Surgery over 2009-13 and was re-appointed to this role in September 2019; he is also Head of Programme for Complex Mitral Valve Surgery.

He is active in training in cardiothoracic surgery as the regional Training Programme Director for Cardiothoracic Surgery and a Member of the Specialty Advisory Committee for Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons. He also examines senior cardiothoracic surgical trainees for the Royal College of Surgeons as Chair of the Intercollegiate Specialty (exam) Board.

Special interests

  • Mitral valve repair
  • Tricuspid valve repair
  • AF ablation
  • Revision valve surgery

Research interests

  • Valvular heart disease
  • Myocardial protection

Contact details

Tracy Jubber: 01865 220442
Email: tracy.jubber@ouh.nhs.uk

Private

Heather Booker: 07503 196825
Email: ranasayeed@doctors.org.uk

Mr Rana Sayeed - Nuffield Health

Mr Rana Sayeed

Mr Vivek Srivastava MB BS MS (Gen Surg) MRCSEd MCh (Cardiovasc & Thorac Surg) FRCSEd (C-Th) PGCC MedEd MBA

Consultant Cardiac Surgeon (Mitral Subspecialty Interest)

Mr Vivek Srivastava completed his surgical training in India and then the UK, finishing off with a specialist fellowship in minimally-invasive and robotic cardiac surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, USA.

He was appointed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in February 2018 as Consultant Cardiac Surgeon with mitral subspecialty interest. His clinical interests include minimally-invasive valve surgery and he has been instrumental in setting this up at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Vivek is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), a member of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland (SCTS) and a member of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS).

His other interests include education and training, and he is Chair of the Departmental Surgical Training Committee. He is a member of the Education Subcommittee of SCTS, and has been appointed as a member of the Surgical Specialty Board for Cardiothoracic Surgery of RCSEd and its Webinar Lead.

He is also interested in general management and has earned an MBA at Oxford Brookes University.

Special interests

  • Adult cardiac surgery
  • Mitral valve surgery especially mitral valve repair
  • Tricuspid valve surgery
  • Multivalve surgery
  • Minimally-invasive cardiac surgery
  • Coronary artery surgery
  • Surgery for atrial fibrillation

Contact details (PA)

Ms Lisa Jones: 01865 221121
Email: lisa.jones@ouh.nhs.uk

Ms Sue Foster: 01865 220269
Email: sue.foster@ouh.nhs.uk

Private

Vivek Srivastava

Vivek Srivastava

Mr Dionisios Stavroulias FRCS

Consultant Thoracic Surgeon
Mr Stavroulias has been a Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals since 2013, having been a Fellow Thoracic Surgeon at Guy's and St.Thomas' Hospital, London, Nottingham City Hospital and Glenfield Hospital, Leicester.

He trained in Thoracic Surgery and General Surgery in Parma, Italy.

Oxford consistently demonstrates high resection rates for primary lung cancer offering more patients the opportunity for cure by undergoing surgery.

Oxford Thoracic Surgery has excellent results having received positive outlier status for good practice in the English National Lung Cancer Clinical Outcomes Publication for the year 2018 and 2019.

Special interests

  • VATS lobectomy for lung cancer
  • VATS thymectomy for myasthenia gravis and/or tumours of the mediastinum
  • Chest trauma surgery
  • Chest sarcoma surgery
  • Surgery for locally advanced lung cancer
  • Chest deformities: pectus surgery and/or bracing

Contact details

Niven Harbour: 01865 226656
Email: niven.harbour@ouh.nhs.uk

Private

Carol Perryman: 07773 009435
Email: carol.perryman@nhs.net

Mr Dionisios Stavroulias

Prof David Taggart

Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery
Prof David Taggart
Last reviewed:15 December 2023