Professor Derek Yellon

Professor Derek Yellon is a prominent cardiovascular scientist. His work on myocardial protection has provided fundamental insights into the way the heart responds to the acute deprivation of blood supply in myocardial infarction. If large clinical studies presently underway succeed, interventions based on Yellon's discoveries will become routine in coronary artery bypass surgery. Such impact on routine patient care is achieved very rarely by a cardiovascular scientist within their professional lifetime and underscores the magnitude of his achievement.

UCT recognises the significant contribution made by Yellon to molecular and cardiovascular medicine, through the establishment of the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute. This institute has made it possible for a wide range of research and educational activities to be carried out at UCT. Yellon has been instrumental in establishing the annual "Cardiology at the Limits" meeting, a joint venture between the Hatter Cardiovascular Institutes of University College London and UCT. These internationally-recognised meetings have been endorsed by the international medical journal, The Lancet, and have played a major role in reaching out to sub-Saharan Africa.

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