Christian Cabrol

Christian Emile Cabrol (16 September 1925 to 16 June 2017) was a French cardiac surgeon, born in Chézy-sur-Marne in the Aisne region of northern France. He joined the French Resistance at the start of the Second World War and, after the war, entered the Salpêtrière Hospital to study medicine. His thesis on the anatomy of the lung was published in two volumes, and he trained under the open heart surgery pioneer Walton Lillehei at the University of Minnesota. On 27 April 1968 he performed France's and Europe's first heart transplant at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, followed in 1982 by Europe's first heart-lung transplant and in 1986 by the first European implant of a Jarvik Total Artificial Heart as a bridge to transplantation. He also pioneered valvular techniques including tricuspid annuloplasty, campaigned for organ donation, and sat in the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999.