Welcome to the website of Chris Young, one of the best heart surgeons in London with expertise in coronary bypass surgery, aortic heart valve replacement, aortic aneurysm surgery, mitral valve repair and keyhole heart surgery. Chris qualified in 1980 from Sheffield University Medical School and within four years had passed all his general surgical fellowship exams.

From here he embarked on a career in cardiothoracic surgery which began with two years of early training at London's St Bartholomew's Hospital. He then moved to top heart hospital St Thomas' which houses some of the best heart surgeons in London. Following a strongly competitive interview he was greeted by a senior cardiothoracic surgeon with the words: "Young, much against our better judgement we have decided to appoint you!". So began his long association with St Thomas', one of London's best heart hospitals.

After 12 months of clinical work, he spent two years on heart surgery research at the prestigious Rayne Institute, having been awarded a British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow. This led to being honoured with a doctorate in medicine in 1991. He finished his training with a year as senior registrar at Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children (GOS) then 12 months at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (QE) where he developed his passion for aortic vascular surgery and the aortic valve. At both GOS and the QE Hospitals he was heavily involved in setting up heart transplant programmes.

Having decided to concentrate on the cardiac and vascular elements of the specialty, Chris went on to super-specialist training in all aspects aortic valve and aortic aneurysm work including keyhole heart surgery, complicated aneurysm surgery, redo surgery and the newly developed percutaneous valve surgery (which avoids opening the chest at all). He is also an expert in coronary artery surgery having only had a single death in the last seven years of his practice:

Keyhole heart surgery
Chris has performed keyhole aortic valve and aortic aneurysm surgery for over 10 years. He now performs virtually all his aortic valve replacements using keyhole techniques. As a result of his extensive experience he has lectured internationally on the topic and Chris has recently been appointed the sole UK trainer in the techniques (with the support of Edwards Lifesciences) to facilitate its adoption nationally.

Percutaneous Heart Valve Surgery (TAVI)
TAVI stands for: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation and Chris works in the centre with the largest UK experience of the Edwards ‘Sapien’ percutaneous heart valve insertion, with over 250 valves implanted to date. His personal results are outstanding with survival in his patients significantly better than predicted. Chris is also the director of the private TAVI programme at the London Bridge Hospital in London where 14 successful procedures have been carried out, all patients surviving to leave hospital. The London Bridge Hospital, with its wide-ranging specialist expertise has the largest private TAVI experience in the UK. Chris now travels in the UK and Europe to teach the TAVI technique and has lectured internationally on the subject.

Aortic Aneurysms Within the Chest
Chris has extensive expertise in this area and has one of the largest individual aneurysm practices in the UK. In the area of descending and thoraco-abdominal aneurysms (the most complex form of aneurysm surgery) Chris has considerable skills and undertakes more than twice as many procedures as any other cardiac surgeon in the UK (63 cases in the last 5 years versus 29 cases at the second most prolific centre).

Training future cardiac surgeons
Chris has always been passionate about training the cardiac surgeons of the future. He has been Programme Director for Training for South East England and a long-standing member of the Pan-Thames Training Committee. Further, Chris has served as a member of the cardiothoracic section of the Royal Society of Medicine for over ten years (an enterprise committed to post graduate training) and spent much of this time as its Treasurer.

Cardiothoracic consultancy experience
As well as being named national delegate and editorial board member for the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, Chris is also an honorary Senior Lecturer for the University of London. For 16 years, he has worked as an honorary consultant to the British Army, seeing and treating service personnel and advising on cardiac matters. Chris is also a consultant to the Church of England serving as a consultant to St Luke's Hospital for the clergy.

Privately, Chris lives in London with wife Dianne. They have three children with two daughters married to officers in the Armed Forces.