The 2024 Margolese National Heart Disorders Prize is awarded to Dr. John Webb from UBC for developing innovative new approaches for heart valve replacement that are transforming cardiac care and improving patient outcomes globally.
Dr. John Webb is the McLeod Professor of Heart Valve Innovation at UBC and Director of the Centre for Heart Valve Innovation at St. Paul’s and Vancouver General Hospitals in Vancouver, where he is also the Director of Interventional Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology Research and the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program.
Dr. Webb’s groundbreaking work is reflected in nearly all international cardiovascular guidelines. The minimally invasive aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve interventions he first developed in Vancouver are becoming the gold standard of care around the world. His publications led to a paradigm shift and the adoption of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for patients with severe symptomatic aortic valve stenosis. Initially performed in only high risk non-surgical patients, transfemoral TAVR is now performed in most patients, regardless of age or risk, with patients usually going home the day after their procedure. Dr. Webb has also developed the retrograde transfemoral approach which is used by 95 per cent of all procedures performed worldwide.
The Margolese prizes were created by an estate gift to UBC by Leonard Herbert Margolese to recognize Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to the treatment, amelioration or cure of brain or heart disorders. Margolese, who passed away in 2000, was a Vancouver businessman who had a heart condition and whose brother had Alzheimer’s disease.
The Dr. Chew Wei Memorial Prize in Cancer Research is named for a Hong Kong physician who retired to Vancouver in 1988. An obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Chew grew determined to improve outcomes for people with cancer. After his death in 2009, his family and friends sought to honour his goals by endowing a Faculty of Medicine prize in cancer research, as well as a chair and a professorship in gynecologic oncology.
