Magdi Yacoub is one of the world's most respected cardiac surgeons; His father was a general surgeon and inspired him to become a doctor. Born 16 November 1935, in Belbis, Ashraqya, Egypt, Magdi Habib Yacoub studied at Cairo University and qualified as a doctor in 1957. He moved to Britain in 1962, and then taught at the University of Chicago. He became a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital in 1973. While his visit to the University of Nigeria, Yacoub participated in performing the first open heart surgery in 1974.
 
In 1995, he founded the UK-based children's charity ‘Chain of Hope’ which treats children and establishes training and research programs in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. In 2008, he established the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundaition. The foundation was able to establish the Aswan Heart Centre in 2009 to provide free medical services for those in need specially the children.