BHF pays tribute to Professor Desmond Julian

The British Heart Foundation today paid tribute to its former Medical Director, Professor Desmond Julian CBE, who sadly died on 26 December 2019. 

Professor Desmond Julian was our Medical Director between 1987 to 1993 and had a long and distinguished career in cardiology, receiving a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1993. He was also the British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology at the University of Newcastle between 1975 and 1986. 

In the 1960s Professor Julian was the first to propose and a pioneering advocate for coronary care units, which today provide specialist care for people who have suffered a cardiac event such as a heart attack. His work, first published in the Lancet in 1961, transformed care for heart patients worldwide.

A pioneer in heart attack care

Professor Julian, who was a junior doctor at this time, developed the concept after he saw the need for heart patients to be treated differently to general patients. He believed that having heart patients on one ward, monitoring them continuously, and having the right equipment and staff on standby for emergencies would increase survival rates. This included training staff in CPR, continuously monitoring patients’ electrocardiograms and having defibrillators at hand in case of a cardiac arrest.

Professor Julian set up Europe’s first Cardiac Care unit in Edinburgh in 1964, and the BHF funded the unit’s staff and equipment. In the first year of their programme 16 of every 100 patients on the unit died - a decrease from 23 out of 100 in a similar group of patients the year before. It was a trend that would continue. 

A patient in the Cardiac Care Unit in Edinburgh in the 1960s

During his time as our Medical Director, Professor Julian brought several new approaches to the BHF and was an advocate for patient education. He also saw the power of large-scale clinical trials for determining the best heart attack treatments - having coined the name of the highly influential International Study of Infarct Survival (ISIS) trials - and widened the scope of BHF-funded research to include them. He continued to champion such trials, now considered the gold standard for assessing the benefits of different treatments, around the world well into his retirement.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, our Medical Director, said: "Professor Julian was a true pioneer in British cardiology and hugely respected both in the UK and internationally. He served the British Heart Foundation with distinction during his time as Medical Director where he steered high impact research and helped to develop community programs across the UK.”

“Professor Julian’s work has undoubtedly shaped modern cardiology and has saved many lives. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family."

In addition to his work with the BHF, Professor Julian served as an adviser and consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) for coronary care, was President of the British Cardiac Society and Second Vice-President of the Royal College of Physicians. He was also Chairman of the British Action on Smoking and Health and Chairman of the National Heart Forum which focused on prevention of heart and circulatory disease in the UK.

In recognition of his influence worldwide, Professor Julian was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology in 1998 and in 2005 the American College of Cardiology's International Service Award “acknowledging his outstanding contributions to enhancing cardiovascular care and education throughout the world”.

Professor Desmond Julian (left) with Professor Peter Weissberg (middle) and Professor Brian Pentecost (right), two of his successors as BHF Medical Director