Zohair bin Yousuf Alhalees

Consultant Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeon, Department of Cardiovascular Diseases

Zohair Alhalees is a senior consultant cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh. Born in Gaza in 1954, he graduated in 1976 in the first class of the King Saud University medical school, trained in Houston and Ottawa, took fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1983 and 1984, and trained in paediatric and congenital cardiac surgery in Denver. In 48 years he has performed about 25,000 cardiac operations, pioneered a valve replacement using the patient's own tissue, which grows with the child, established the Middle East's first congenital heart defect registry, and built the hospital's cardiovascular department into the King Faisal Heart Institute. He has led over 60 humanitarian and teaching missions in 20-plus countries and published over 150 papers. The first Saudi and Arab elected president of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, he is a professor at Alfaisal University and the American University of Beirut, won the 2017 TAKREEM award and the American College of Cardiology's 2026 lifetime achievement award.