Jane Somerville

Professor Jane Somerville is a British Emeritus Professor of Cardiology, Cardiologist to Britain's first heart transplantation in 1968, founder of the first World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology and the Somerville Foundation, and pioneer of the Grown-Up Congenital Heart Disease (GUCH) as a sub-specialty. She recognised the unmet need of the increasing number of adolescents and adults who were now surviving the heart conditions they were born with, thus founding the concept of GUCH. Following her education at Guy's Hospital Medical School, where she became the first female surgical house officer working under Lord Brock, she chose to pursue a career in cardiology at the National Heart Hospital, Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street and later at the Royal Brompton Hospital. Professor Somerville is the recipient of multiple awards and honours including the Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology and is known internationally for her unbridled determination and leading the way for women in cardiology.