Lord Ara Darzi talks about Innovation, learning politics and being fearless.

This is the first of two episodes during which I have the chance to interview Professor Ara Darzi - or Lord Darzi as he became when he entered the House of Lords in 2007.

Ara Darzi was born in Baghdad to Armenian parents and after high school education entered medical school in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin. After graduation and surgical training in Ireland, including a research fellowship, he moved to London shortly thereafter where he began his career initially as an NHS consultant once he had completed his training.

In the early 1990s I had the privilege of working with Ara as I was also newly on staff at Imperial College in Saint Marys Hospital medical school in London. There, Ara first demonstrated his extraordinary talents for surgical skill and innovation in many areas of technology.

Within a decade, he had risen through the ranks to become the Chair of Surgery at Imperial College and the future was definitely looking bright. In 2006, he was asked by a health minister to undertake a review of the NHS within LONDON.

Around this time he had received a Knighthood and then unexpectedly was invited by the Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, to join his government of all talents.

Two years as a health minister was an extraordinary experience, but enough for someone who did not wish to spend his life in mainstream politics. Instead, he has sat in the house of Lord's as an independent life peer and become a global figure in the world of health innovation and disruptive technology.

I cannot think of many surgeons whose career has spanned such an extraordinary breath of achievements. As much as anything else, this is why I decided that this interview should be in two parts.

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#innovation #collaboration #surgery #research #robotics #medicalpolitics #houseoflords #laparoscopysurgery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_Darzi,_Baron_Darzi_of_Denham

https://www.flagshippioneering.com/people/ara-darzi

https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/consultant-directory/ara-darzi

https://royalsociety.org/people/ara-darzi-11300/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/11/prof-lord-ara-darzi-surgeon-nhs-review