Friedhelm Beyersdorf received his medical degree at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1981. His work was driven by a research stay at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he worked with Gerald Buckberg on crucial work on blood cardioplegia of the heart, which is now the standard cardioplegia at most cardiac surgery centres. He was appointed full professor at the Clinical Centre of the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany in 1994 for cardiovascular surgery. Friedhelm has been a member of the Council of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS) since 2002 and was elected Editor-in-Chief from 2010 to 2020. Between 2009 and 2011 Friedhelm was President of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (DGTHG). In 2013, he was appointed “Membre correspondant étranger de l’Académie nationale de Médecine”. In 2000, he was awarded the title of Professor honoris causa by the University of Marilia (Brazil) and in 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr. h. c.) by the National University of Laos (Ventiane). Friedhelm holds more than 700 publications and patents.
