Salim Yusuf

Salim Yusuf (born November 26, 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian physician, the Marion W. Burke Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at McMaster University Medical School and currently the President of the World Heart Federation, a world-renowned cardiologist and epidemiologist. In 2001, he published a landmark study that proved the benefits of clopidogrel in acute coronary syndrome without ST elevation.

Early life and education

Born in the town of Kottarakkara in Kerala, Yusuf studied medicine at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore and earned a doctorate at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. At Oxford, he also took part in research into cardiovascular disease.

Career

In 1984, Yusuf moved to the National Institutes of Health in the United States, where he continued his research. He came to McMaster University in 1992 as director of the cardiology division. There, he established the Population Health Research Institute. Yusuf is vice-president of research at Hamilton Health Sciences. From 1999 to 2004, he was senior scientist at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Yusuf holds a research chair from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. In 2011, he was the world's second-most cited researcher.

Yusuf's large-scale clinical trials have had a significant impact on the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease.

Honours

In 2013, Yusuf was named an Officer in the Order of Canada. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2014, he was awarded the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.