Guest Editor Introduction
Professor John H. Dark is an internationally renowned honorary consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Freeman Hospital in the United Kingdom, with over 30 years of clinical experience. He first trained with Sir Magdi Yacoub in 1984, at a time when the United Kingdom’s first transplant programme in London was being developed, before travelling to Toronto where he first observed lung transplantation. Professor Dark’s first consultancy was at Edinburgh before he joined the Freeman Hospital in 1987. He then went on to direct the cardiac and pulmonary transplant program at Freeman Hospital for over 20 years, building it into the most active in the United Kingdom, before retiring in April 2017.
Professor Dark has ongoing and extensive experience, dating back over 25 years, in clinical and laboratory research in cardiac and pulmonary transplantation. He is an associate editor for both the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the American Journal of Transplantation. He also serves on the council of the British Transplantation Society, and since April 2013, has been the National Clinical Lead for Governance within Organ Donation and Transplantation at National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).
Other markers of esteem include past president of both the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT). He previously chaired the Clinical Reference Group for Heart and Lung Transplantation at NHS England.
Dr. Asif Hasan is a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and the current director of the cardiac and pulmonary transplant program at Freeman Hospital. His special interests include transplantation and mechanical circulatory support as treatment modalities for congenital heart disease. Dr. Hasan graduated from the Dow Medical College in 1979, and has been widely recognized for his expertise in both adult and paediatric transplantation in both academic and clinical settings. He is a member of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland, as well as the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network.
We appreciate the opportunity to have Professor Dark and Dr. Hasan contribute their wealth of knowledge and experience to this current issue of the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
