Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Salim Haj Yahya (1967) is a
Palestinian physician and heart surgeon from the city of Taybeh, an experienced
professor at the British University of Bristol, and a member of the Palestinian
Higher Health Council. He held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
and Health Sciences at An-Najah National University and also the position of
Executive Director of An-Najah National University Hospital. Currently, after
leaving An-Najah University and its university hospital, Professor Haj Yahya
occupies the position of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Hebron University
and is working on establishing a modern university hospital in it.
His upbringing and education
Salim Haj Yahya was born in the city
of Al-Taybeh in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948. He received his
basic and preparatory education in its schools. In his high school, he moved to
a boarding school in the city of Nazareth. Then he completed his education,
studying law, influenced by his father, until he moved after two years to study
medicine at the University of The Israeli Technion, and after his graduation,
he joined the residency program in the field of cardiothoracic surgery at Sheba
Tel Hashomer Hospital; To be the youngest consultant in cardiothoracic surgery
in Israel. In 2002, he joined International Cardiac Surgeon Professor Sir Magdi
Yacoub at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals in London, and was
appointed as a Research Fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute, and
later at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London.
His career and achievements
achievements in the United Kingdom
Haj Yehia played an important role
at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals in developing the heart failure
programme, the artificial heart programme, the lung transplantation programme,
and organ donation. He also worked with leading British research groups, such
as that of Professor Magdi Yacoub at the National Heart and Lung Institute at
Imperial College London, In which he played a key role in applying scientific
research that included creative medical innovations of scientific and surgical
importance.
Professor Haj Yahya has engaged in
research work, producing dozens of publications (more than 60 complete papers
and a limited presentation, and this is only on the Research Gate website),
which had an impact in the field of developing mechanical circulation globally,
most of which were published in prominent scientific journals, and he worked on
Supervising and implementing many research projects in the field of heart
failure and mechanical support, in addition to his work as a senior advisor to
the British Ministry of Health in organ donation and transplantation. He was
later awarded a special and prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England for those who have made an important contribution to the
development of the field of cardiac surgery and service to humanity, and was
subsequently awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Glasgow in honor of his work in the field of mechanical circulatory
support and failed heart surgery and his contributions In improving the field
of organ transplantation in Britain.
In addition, Professor Haj Yahya was
the first heart surgeon in the world to transfer a beating human heart without
stopping and freezing it in the traditional way, and he was the first surgeon
in Britain and one of the first in the world to transfer and transplant a lung
after the death of the clinical cycle (and not after the traditional clinical
death), and the first heart surgeon to develop and publish Innovative surgical
methods for implanting and removing the artificial heart without incision in
the entire chest.
Haj Yahya is the only professor of
cardiac surgery in Scotland, and the first heart surgeon in Britain to be
appointed as a professor at two British universities (at the University of
Glasgow in Scotland and a professor at the University of Bristol in England),
simultaneously.
A qualitative artificial heart
transplant in Palestine
Hajj Yahya's qualitative operation
to implant an artificial heart for an 18-year-old boy received a strong
response and had an impact on the Palestinian people. It strengthened the
people's confidence in the health system, especially since this operation was
the first of its kind in Palestine. And when taking into account the difficult
conditions that the occupied territories are going through and the Palestinian
health care system is facing, such an achievement is considered a difficult
task, and a major event in improving the health care system in Palestine. The
work of Professor Haj Yahya had a wide resonance in the Palestinian national
community and on the global scale, as the European, British and American media
reported on this achievement, making Professor Haj Yahya a national medical
model.
his relationship with his students
It is worth mentioning that
Professor Haj Yahya has a strong influence on his students (in Palestine and
Britain) as he personally supervises their work and progress, and he
contributed to his outstanding students obtaining a number of training
opportunities in world-renowned institutions in both Britain and the United
States of America, in addition to that. To his supervision of the work of
master's, doctoral and post-doctoral students, opening the doors of cooperation
and partnership with important institutions with common interests to improve
the medical field and develop research and scientific production.
In 2010, as part of the efforts made
by the Scottish government, in order to prepare for a popular referendum and
improve the Scottish health care system and reduce dependence on the English
system, especially with regard to referring patients to London, Professor Haj
Yahya was attracted as Head of the Heart Transplant Department and the Scottish
National Center for the Treatment of Heart Failure Heart, in order to lead a
team of surgeons to establish and develop the artificial heart program, revive
the heart transplant program, and develop the lung transplant program, thus
becoming one of the youngest leading consultants in advanced programs within
the National Health Service sector in Britain, as this was based on his
reputation in the field of Heart and lung transplantation. And after Professor
Haj Yahya established the artificial heart program in Scotland and after
leading a team to revive the heart transplantation program, he made an
important global contribution to the establishment of several advanced heart
programs in addition to establishing different departments of artificial heart
surgery around the world, and supervised the first implantation Artificial
heart operations in several countries, the latest of which was Palestine.
Professor Haj-Yahya also participated in the training of a large number of
consultants from all over the world, including surgeons, cardiologists,
anesthesiologists and others, in both London and Glasgow, and in other centers
around the world for heart transplantation.
His return to his homeland,
Palestine
And after spending half a decade as
head of the heart transplantation program, and after performing the first
successful artificial heart transplant in Glasgow, Scotland, and working for a
period as a professor at the University of Glasgow, Haj Yahya decided to return
to Palestine, due to his moral and national commitment to work to seize the
opportunity to create a change in the system. Palestinian health. Where Haj
Yahya preferred to return to Palestine to build a new generation of doctors
based on medical ethics and human values; So he worked as the CEO and founder
of An-Najah University Teaching Hospital; The first teaching university
hospital in Palestine, and as a professor of cardiothoracic surgery, in
addition to his work as director of heart surgery and transplantation and dean
of the Faculty of Medicine. After he resigned from his post at Glasgow Golden
Jubilee Hospital, Professor Haji Yahya was offered an honorary position at the
hospital and the University of Glasgow, and held an honorary consultant
position in cardiac transplantation and surgery at the Golden Jubilee Hospital.
His positions in Palestine and his
management of An-Najah University Hospital
Salim Haj Yahya held the position of
Dean of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at An-Najah National
University, in addition to the position of Executive Director of An-Najah
National University Hospital during the period (2014-2019). artificial lung.
Professor Haj Yahya worked on
building relationships at the global level, attracting qualified people, and
strengthening cooperation and partnerships in order to improve the medical
infrastructure in Palestine. As part of his leadership role as Executive
Director of An-Najah University Hospital, Professor Haj-Yahya is responsible
for leading a large team and heading up the management hierarchy in the
development of comprehensive education at the university hospital as well as
the development of tertiary care, with an annual budget of US$50 million. His
role has contributed to making An-Najah National University Hospital a leading
Palestinian health institution in both the field of advanced medical care in
comprehensive health care and tertiary health care, and in the field of medical
education and research. His role included attracting members of the medical
staff at the international level, developing the infrastructure, in addition to
developing the system, rules and laws, developing strategies and strengthening
relations at the international level. Despite this, Professor Haj Yahya
continued to perform operations, thus enabling him to create a modern
institution concerned with the heart, responsible for the program of heart
surgery and transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, and intractable
heart diseases.
His charitable work
Professor Haj Yahya is not only
considered a surgeon, but he also uses his positions in order to encourage
charitable work in the field of continuing medical education and in order to
promote the values and ethics of future generations of doctors and workers in
the health professions, especially as the founder and president of the
Children's Heart Foundation of Palestine since 2010. The work of this
charitable organization focuses on initiating and supporting the development of
Palestinian services specialized in the diagnosis and management of heart
diseases in children in particular, and other diseases in children in general.
He also worked for 10 years as an executive member of the Board of Trustees of
the Al-Quds Charitable Foundation in Britain to support medical schools in
Palestine, which works to support the development of medical schools in
Jerusalem in particular and in Palestine in general. Professor Haj Yahya feels
very proud of his charitable activities, especially since he has so far
collected nearly $4 million for charitable purposes.
role as an influencer
The results of a survey conducted by
the most popular websites in the Arab world at the end of 2016 indicated that
Professor Salim Haj Yahya is considered the most influential Palestinian,
scientific and non-political figure.
He also established several
departments for heart transplantation and the artificial heart in different
parts of the world, including the United Kingdom, Turkey, Greece and a number
of Arab Gulf countries. In addition, he recorded a large number of heart
transplant operations that qualified him to be the director of the Mechanical
Circulation Support Unit and artificial heart implantation in one. One of the
most important heart hospitals in Britain.
His last stop recently - Hebron
University
The Board of Trustees of An-Najah
National University Hospital dismissed Salim Haj Yahya from the management of
the hospital. This caused a local media stir. Accordingly, Professor Salim Haj
Yahya decided to establish a fund to support the poor student and put in it all
his financial dues. The value of the donations in the fund exceeded one million
dollars, according to his statement. His departure was not simple, but his
students bid him farewell and gave him shields in appreciation of his efforts.
Then a boat to travel in Palestine
docked again and came to Hebron University; To be its dean at the request of
the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University, Dr. Nabil Al-Jabari,
complementing the efforts of the former Dean, Professor Ghassan Abu Hijleh, and
taking it upon himself to build a university hospital with the latest
international standards.
In addition to his work as dean of
the Faculty of Medicine, serving his family in the occupied West Bank,
Professor Haj Yahya accepted an offer from the Medical Center Hospital to serve
his family in the occupied territories with his knowledge.
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Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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