| The Right Honourable Professor The Lord Darzi of Denham KBE PC FMedSci HonFREng FRCS FRCSI FRCSEd FRCPSG FACS FCGI MD FRCPE FRCP HonFRCPI |
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| Born | May 7, 1960 |
| Known for | Pioneering keyhole surgery; national review of NHS in which he emphasised that quality should be a central principle |
| Profession | Surgeon, Professor |
| Institutions | Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden Hospital |
| Specialism | Keyhole and cancer surgery |
| Research | Image-guided and robotic surgery; quality and safety in health care |
Ara Warkes Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham, KBE, PC MD FMedSci, HonFREng, FRCS, FRCSI, FRCSEd, FRCPSG, FACS, FCGI, FRCPE FRCP HonFRCPI (born 7 May 1960), is one of the world's leading surgeons at Imperial College London where he holds Hamlyn Chair of Surgery, specialising in the field of minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery, having pioneered many new techniques and technologies.
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Darzi is of Armenian origin. He was born in Iraq and then moved to Ireland.[1] Although he has become strongly identified with reform of the National Health Service (NHS) in England, Darzi did not initially train within the NHS, as he studied medicine in the Republic of Ireland, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and subsequently obtained the postgraduate degree of MD at Trinity College, Dublin.
He moved to the UK from Ireland in 1990 to further his career in Surgery. In 1991 he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at Central Middlesex Hospital at the age of 31 and then moved to St. Mary's Hospital in 1994. In 2002 He was awarded a knighthood for his services to medicine and surgery and subsequently elevated to peerage in 2007. He was appointed to Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in June 2009.
He is married to Wendy with whom he has two children, Freddie and Nina.
Darzi joined Imperial College London in 1994, obtained his Professorship in 1996 and became the Chair of Surgery and Head of Department in 1998. Darzi holds the Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at Imperial College London and the Institute of Cancer Research. He is also an honorary consultant surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, and the Royal Marsden Hospital. He has held many senior administrative appointments within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College, Research Council, Editorial Board of Scientific Journals, and medical royal colleges.
Darzi was educated in Ireland, awarded an MD from Trinity College Dublin and the Fellowships of essentially all the Royal Colleges in the British Isles (Ireland FRCSI, England FRCS, and both Scottish Colleges FRCSed, FRCPSG). He also holds the Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons and has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and more recently an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering as the first Surgeon ever granted this honour. From 2005 to 2008 he was president of Bath Institute of Medical Engineering (BIME). In December 2008 he received an Honorary degree (Doctor of Engineering) from the University of Bath. In 2010 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and an Honorary Fellow of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence.
Darzi’s main clinical and academic interest is in minimally invasive surgery and allied technologies in which he and his team are internationally recognized. He leads a team of researchers covering a wide spectrum of engineering and basic sciences research topics including Medical Image Computing, Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Safety, and Robotics. He has published more than 450 peer review papers[2] and published 7 books.[3]
This work has received international recognition including the Queens Anniversary Prize for Excellence in Higher and further education 2001,[4] the Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence in 2004.[5] In 2006 Darzi and his department were awarded the highly prestigious Rector’s Research Excellence Award for their work on Surgical Robots. He has also delivered many prestigious and named lectures around the globe.
On 29 June 2007 Darzi was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the House of Lords at the Department of Health by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. He was duly raised to the peerage on 12 July 2007 as Baron Darzi of Denham, of Gerrards Cross in the County of Buckinghamshire. His appointment was part of Gordon Brown's "Government of all talents."[6]
Prior to his appointment in the House of Lords, in December 2006 NHS London asked Darzi to "develop a strategy to meet Londoners' health needs over the next five to ten years". The report Healthcare for London: A Framework for Action was published on 11 July 2007.[7] Recommendations included the development of academic health science centres and the introduction of polyclinics.
As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health, Darzi was charged with leading a Review to determine the course of the NHS over the decade ahead, reporting back to the Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Secretary of State for Health in June 2008. The process was described as the “NHS Next Stage Review”.[8]
Professor Darzi was quoted in The Times Newspaper as saying that “…his Review should be both clinically-led and evidence-based”. The final report of the Review, High Quality Care for All, was published in June 2008 to considerable public and academic acclaim. The Financial Times noted that it was “the world’s most ambitious attempt to raise the quality and effectiveness of an entire nation’s healthcare”.[9] The Lancet acknowledged that:
"Darzi has wisely thrown out regulation as the organising principle of the NHS. He has replaced it with quality…This cultural shift is a radical re-visioning of purpose for the NHS—away from the political command and control of processes and towards professional responsibility for clinical outcomes."[10]
Through his report, academics have suggested that Professor Darzi has updated traditional notions of professionalism and described a new accountability in clinical practice. Following publication, Professor Darzi remained in his ministerial post. At that time a Department for Health spokesperson was quoted as saying that his revised role would “…ensure the successful implementation of the Review’s conclusions. Notably, frontline clinical staff will be given more control over budgets, and his proposals will mean that every provider of NHS services will be required to publish Quality Accounts from April 2010”.
As a government minister, Professor Darzi found himself responsible for leading the passage of health-related legislation through the House of Lords.
Professor Darzi’s leadership as a health minister was the culmination of many years of involvement in health policy. Immediately prior to joining the government, Professor Darzi led a review of health services in London, identifying the opportunities to raise clinical quality across the capital.[7] He was also National Advisor in Surgery to the Department of Health. Professor Darzi’s report in this role ‘Saws and Scalpels to Lasers and Robots: Clinical case for change’ (April 2007), argued for a change to the way surgery is organised in order to maximise patient benefits.[11]
In June 2009 Professor Darzi was appointed as a member of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council.[12]
In July 2009, Professor Darzi relinquished his post as Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department of Health. The Prime Minister praised his “outstanding contribution”.[13] and the Guardian noted that:
"Instead of waging war on the medics, as his Blairite predecessors had done, Darzi invited them to take a hand in designing their own targets and bound them into reform. He stressed the quality of care after Labour's decade-long obsession with quantity. And while the drive for private involvement continued, it took a less dogmatic turn. The NHS's morale improved, as did its public standing."[14]
Following his resignation from Government, Professor Darzi returned to his clinical and academic work and has expanded his involvement in global health issues. In June 2010 he was appointed Chairman of the Institute for Global Health Innovation at Imperial College, a body dedicated to improving healthcare around the world and reducing health inequalities in developed and developing countries.[15] In November 2010 he was appointed as a Business Ambassador for the UK by Prime Minister David Cameron.[16]
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