Professor Stephen Westaby, surgeon and writer

Professor Stephen Westerby, renowned heart surgeon and writer, shares his extraordinary life story on Desert Island Discs, reflecting on a career defined by innovation, courage, and deep empathy. Born in 1948 in Scunthorpe, Westerby’s journey from a shy, gifted boy to one of Britain’s greatest cardiac surgeons was transformed by a rugby-related head injury that erased his inhibitions while preserving his intellect and passion for the heart. Inspired by a childhood encounter with a dying 'blue baby' and a pivotal BBC documentary on heart surgery, he pursued medicine with unwavering determination, overcoming class and confidence barriers to train at Charing Cross Hospital. His groundbreaking work in the US, where he identified nylon as a deadly component in heart-lung machines, revolutionized cardiac surgery safety. Later, as head of a cardiothoracic centre in Oxford, he performed the world’s first implantation of a permanent artificial heart, the Jarvik 2000, transforming the life of patient Peter Houghton. Despite the NHS not funding such devices, Westerby remained committed to advancing mechanical heart technology, even after his team’s project went into liquidation. Now retired, he reflects on a life of relentless dedication, personal loss, and profound human connection, choosing music and memories that echo his formative years and lifelong mission to heal. Westerby’s narrative is a powerful meditation on resilience, the transformative power of curiosity, and the moral imperative to innovate in medicine. His story reveals how personal trauma—his grandfather’s death from heart failure, his own near-fatal injury—shaped his drive to conquer the heart’s mysteries. He champions a surgeon’s mindset unburdened by fear and league tables, emphasizing focus on the individual patient over institutional metrics. His final choices—Forever Autumn, a song tied to his Alabama breakthrough, and De Motu Cordis, the 1628 treatise on blood circulation—symbolize both the beauty of discovery and the enduring legacy of medical pioneers. Westerby’s legacy is not just in lives saved, but in the courage to go your own way, even when the world says no.