A/Prof Laszlo Kiraly graduated from Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest, Hungary. Having accomplished the curriculum of General Surgery in Hungary, he received full training in Cardiothoracic Surgery in France (CCML, Paris), in the UK (GOS in London, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Wessex Cardiothoracic Centre, Southampton) and in the US, concluding in National and European Cardiothoracic Board certification (FETCS). He was Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief and Chair of Congenital and Paediatric Cardiac Surgery/Intensive Care Unit at the National Paediatric Centre in Budapest between 2000 and 2006. During this period, the Institution became the leading paediatric cardiac unit in Central Europe.
A/Prof Kiraly was invited to Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi in 2007 to establish and lead a new tertiary-care paediatric cardiac service for the United Arab Emirates. With his Team, he performed over 4800 paediatric cardiac operations in a mostly neonatal and infant population. Local case-complexity has significantly been higher than that in Europe due to consanguinity, a segregated population pattern, and other aspects of local sociocultural context. SKMC program has been offering complex neonatal open-heart surgery (including Norwood-1s, complex arch repairs, arterial switches, etc.), hybrid procedures for selected cases, ECMO and GUCH surgery as well. These and many of new surgical modalities (e.g. Ross operation, double-switch operation etc.) have been introduced at SKMC (A/Prof Kiraly being the primary operator) for the first time in the UAE. Overall mortality rate was below 3%. SEHA, Abu Dhabi Health Company nominated SKMC Paediatric Cardiac Surgery as one of its eight “Center of Excellence” programs in 2017.
A/Prof Kiraly has completed his PhD thesis on establishment of a comprehensive program in congenital cardiac surgery at the Postdoctoral School of Semmelweis Medical University, Budapest, Hungary, where he is Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health. Dr Kiraly has been awarded as Professor of Medicine by the same University (ranking in the top 50 universities in Europe).
A/Prof Kiraly has developed special expertise in 3D printing and modelling for healthcare. SEHA invited him as member to its Committee for Artifical Intelligence. This is first step in a wider program that involves augmented reality for surgical visualization and robotics. Advances in novel application of technology could revolutionize congenital heart surgery. A/Prof Kiraly joins National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) to develop a centre-of-excellence in paediatric cardiothoracic surgery.
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