Professor Mahmoud Barbir

Professor Mahmoud Barbir is a consultant cardiologist at Harefield Hospital, since 1993.

He completed his education in 1980 from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He underwent his initial training in general medicine and cardiology in Dublin, at St James’s Hospital and Richmond Hospital.

Soon after in 1985, Professor Barbir came to London and started a British Heart Foundation in research fellowship at Hammersmith Hospital for two years. He then completed three years training in clinical cardiology.

In 1988, he completed clinical research at Harefield Hospital working under Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub. Simultaneously, he completed further training in the department of cardiology.

Professor Mahmoud Barbir is a clinical cardiologist with a special interest in:

• causes of coronary heart disease (risk factors, hypertension and lipid disorders)
• detection and management
• CT coronary angiography
• cardiac catheterisation
• management of lipid disorders
• statins
• PCSK9 monoclonal antibodies and lipoprotein apheresis.

He is the lead physician in familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) in adults and children, genetic screening and lipoprotein apheresis.

Professor Mahmoud Barbir’s main research interests include:

• FH
• refractory angina
• hyperlipidaemia
• primary and secondary prevention
• CT coronary calcification
• angiography.

In addition, he is involved in research on lipid-lowering therapies, which include lipoprotein apheresis (LDL apheresis) refractory angina and dyslipidaemia in transplant recipients.

Some of his research projects include:

• FH cascade study
• cardiac rehabilitation for the treatment of refractory angina and syndrome X
• role of computed tomography in risk assessment for coronary heart disease
• improve-It: Examining Outcome in Subjects with Acute Coronary Syndrome
• LDL apheresis: indications and clinical experience in a tertiary centre
• lipoprotein apheresis for refractory angina.

He also organises and chairs in clinical cardiology for GPs and specialist registrars.

Professor Mahmoud Barbir has published more than 40 original manuscripts in medical journals, including The Lancet, Circulation and the International Journal of Cardiology.

He has also contributed to numerous reviews and textbook chapters which include:

• hyperlipidaemia and graft atherosclerosis
• lipids and vascular disease
• prevention of cardiovascular disease
• lipids in heart transplant patients
• severe hypercholesterolaemia: therapeutic goals and eligibility criteria for LDL apheresis in Europe
• epidemiology and risk factors for diseases of the coronary arteries
• the role of CT in risk assessment for coronary heart disease.

Professor Mahmoud Barbir is the lead supervisor for a PhD student and teaches masters students in cardiology at Imperial College London. He is also involved in teaching students from UCL.

In addition, he accepts students who are willing to learn and expand their knowledge in the UK. He has taught many international students who had honorary clinical attachments to the Trust.

In 2012, Professor Mahmoud Barbir presented at the first international conference on FH in children and adolescents in Athens, Greece. He presented on treatments available to patients including lipoprotein apheresis for those who do not respond to medication. The Trust is the largest of only eight UK centres that can offer this treatment.

The following year in 2013, he also presented at the sixth EU Round Table on FH in Berlin. He was the organiser and co-chairman of the Royal Society of Medicine Preventative Cardiology training day for SpRs 2013.