Zaheer Yousef

Zaheer Yousef OBE, FRCP
Born	Zaheer Raza Yousef
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of London
Known for	Heart failure treatment; cardiac resynchronisation therapy; cardiovascular device research
Awards	Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Scientific career
Fields	Cardiology
Institutions	University Hospital of Wales; Cardiff University

Zaheer Raza Yousef OBE, FRCP is a British cardiologist and academic known for his contributions to the treatment of heart failure, cardiac resynchronisation therapy, and cardiovascular device research. He is Consultant Cardiologist and Lead Clinician for Heart Muscle Diseases and Heart Failure Devices at the University Hospital of Wales and Honorary Professor at Cardiff University.

Education

Yousef earned a Bachelor of Science degree with first-class honours in 1988 and a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in 1992 from the University of London. ^[1] He completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 2003.

Career

Yousef was appointed Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales in 2005, where he leads services in heart failure, heart muscle disease, and cardiac resynchronisation. ^{[2] [3]} He is Honorary Professor at Cardiff University and serves as Clinical Lead for Cardiovascular Research in Wales. ^[4]

He has held leadership roles with the Welsh Cardiovascular Society ^[5] and Heart Research Wales. ^[6]

Academic and research work

Yousef's academic interests focus on the pathophysiology of heart muscle diseases and the mechanisms of therapeutic interventions. ^{[7] [8]} His work includes clinical and imaging-based research on cardiac resynchronisation, chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. ^[9] His studies use echocardiography, ^[10] cardiac MRI, and haemodynamic assessment to investigate novel treatment pathways. ^[11]

Selected publications

• Yousef ZR et al. “Late intervention after anterior myocardial infarction: effects on left ventricular size, function, and quality of life.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2002.
• Mullens W, Auricchio A, Yousef Z et al. “Optimized implementation of cardiac resynchronization therapy.” Europace, 2021.
• Bonny A, Chin A, Yousef Z et al. “Cardiac pacing in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Cardiovascular Journal of Africa, 2019.
• Yousef Z et al. “Left ventricular hypertrophy in Fabry disease: a practical approach to diagnosis.” European Heart Journal, 2013.

Awards and honours

• 2025 – Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to the treatment of heart failure ^[12]
• 2009 – Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians ^{[13] [14]}
• 2006 – European Society of Cardiology (Fellow)

References

1. London, King's College. "Dina Asher-Smith among King's alumni named in New Year Honours". King's College London.
2. "Cardiff and Vale UHB colleagues recognised in the New Year's Honours List". Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
3. "The Consultant Cardiologist honoured for services to heart failure". Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
4. "Wales Heart Research Institute (WHRI)". Cardiff University.
5. "Welsh Cardiovascular Society". NHS Wales Performance and Improvement. 9 April 2024.
6. "ABOUT US". Heart Research Wales.
7. "New pacemaker returns Gaynor Wright to 'normal' life". BBC News. 13 October 2013.
8. "Cardiac screening programme an important element of player care at Swansea City". Swansea City.
9. "Eligibility of patients for sacubitril/valsartan in a secondary care heart failure service". British Journal of Cardiology. 2016. doi:10.5837/bjc.2016.033.
10. Thomas, Dewi E.; Wheeler, Richard; Yousef, Zaheer R.; Masani, Navroz D. (December 2009). "The role of echocardiography in guiding management in dilated cardiomyopathy". European Journal of Echocardiography: The Journal of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the European Society of Cardiology. 10 (8): iii15–21. doi:10.1093/ejechocard/jep158. ISSN   1532-2114.
11. Evans, Marc; Morgan, Angharad R.; Yousef, Zaheer; Ellis, Gethin; Dashora, Umesh; Patel, Dipesh C.; Brown, Pam; Hanif, Wasim; Townend, Johnathan N.; Kanumilli, Naresh; Moore, Jim; Wilding, John P. H.; Bain, Stephen C. (1 July 2021). "Optimising the Heart Failure Treatment Pathway: The Role of SGLT2 Inhibitors". Drugs. 81 (11): 1243–1255. doi:10.1007/s40265-021-01538-6. ISSN   1179-1950.
12. "New Year Honours List 2025". GOV.UK.
13. "Register of Fellows". Rcp.ac.uk.
14. "King Charles III 2025 New Year Honours for RCP fellows". Rcp.ac.uk.