Professor Sherif Sultan, MD FRCS FACS PhD

 Prof Sherif Sultan has more than three and half decades of vascular and endovascular surgery experience and a solid international reputation as one of the pioneers of open and minimally invasive vascular and endovascular techniques. Prof Sultan is the senior vascular surgeon at the Soalta hospital group of the National Health Service Executive in Ireland. This Soalta hospital group and Galway clinic affiliated teaching hospital comprises Eight hospitals and cares for a population of more than one and half million people.

Prof Sherif Sultan leads a world-class research team of PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and fellows at the Western Vascular Institute, University of Galway, the Corrib-CURAM-Vascular group and Atlantic Technological University. He has secured millions in research funding, including grants from the European Commission, Irish Research Council, Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland and industry. He has a prolific research portfolio with over 500 international peer-reviewed publications, 572 international and national presentations. Thirty-six international awards have recognized his research work. The National Institute of Health in the USA cited his seminal publication on the cost-effectiveness of endovascular aortic repair as one of the most ground-breaking publications in this field in the last decade. Prof Sherif sultan has a Citation Index of 4417 since 2018, with an H-Index of 34 and I-10-Index of 95. 

Prof Sultan is a talented inventor and has 17 patents in his name. Enterprise Ireland awarded him a prestigious commercialization fund in 2016 to develop an innovative endovascular cervical access stroke management arterial system sheath and closure device at NUI Galway. He won the MEDX international accelerator innovation competition in January 2021 for the best device design in managing stroke, brain bleeds, and aneurysms through this clever device. Prof Sultan received the Cleveland Clinic best Enterprise Ireland Clinical Innovation Award for his stem cell delivery catheter design in 2013. In 2007, he was Inter-Trade Ireland's Equity Network winner of the Best International Emerging Company in the All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition for an endovenous varicose vein ablation device.

Prof Sultan is a world key opinion leader in the field of vascular surgery and heads a team of dedicated vascular and endovascular specialists focusing on preventing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. He specializes in stroke prevention with one-day surgery for carotid artery intervention; endovascular, open and hybrid management of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm, dissection and lower limb revascularization. Prof Sultan has pioneered techniques that manage complex aortic pathology, visceral and mesenteric revascularization, triple neuroprotection for stroke in evolution, salvage critical ischaemic limbs and wound care management for refractory chronic venous ulcers with hyperbaric medicine. In addition, he performs keyhole surgery for varicose veins as 4-hour admission. 

Prof Sultan had pioneered and established the techniques of sub-intimal angioplasty, DRESS technique for complex EVAR, Kinetic elephant trunk for pan aortic dissection, TIGER protocol for infra-diaphragmatic aortic dissection, PASHA and ARAFAT techniques to diagnose and manage concealed endoleaks and aortic sac hygroma, Triple neuroprotection for patients with acute vascular stroke post the 24 hours opportunity window, TCAR/ PER CAS techniques for cervical carotid stenting, Hyperbaric medicine Box in management of refractory venous ulcers, Celiac sympathectomy for young MALS patients, Anterior scalenectomy for neurogenic TOS, Art-assist to recruit capillary bed as a home therapy for critical limb ischaemia patients and DVAR techniques for lower limb salvage for threatened critical lower limb ischaemia in no-option patients. Prof Sultan had created the level one evidence of best managing refractory venous ulcers with his pioneering Bridge VAC and compression techniques. 

Prof Sultan founded the Western Vascular Institute, a charitable research foundation committed to vascular research, technical innovation, professional and public education. He was elected as the chairman. In 2007, he established the endovascular master's programme in collaboration with the National University of Ireland Galway. He has long championed the need for translational research and has been the first to launch many new medical devices in Europe and worldwide. He is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the vascular disease as the number one global killer. With state-of-the-art technology, vascular laboratory, veins unit, diagnostic and interventional capabilities, comprehensive programs, and ongoing educational opportunities, he delivers the highest level of care to meet the needs of his vascular patients.

Prof Sultan is steadfast in his determination to bring innovation into day-to-day clinical practice, and patents and intellectual property demonstrate his dedication to medical technology and the need for the commercialization of research. Prof Sultan Provided an innovative surgical practice programme for all students with an unprecedented introduction to how medical devices are used in clinical practice. Prof Sultan Unique programme, which we compile each year, reflects the lasted innovations in the MedTech endovascular field and introduces the students to intellectual property and patent registration. Furthermore, the examination format affords the students the freedom to be creative while at the same time introduces them to the practicalities of clinical applications.

Prof Sultan research focuses on the future of advanced functional imaging for aortic and cervical pathologies. We have established the Irish Research Council and European-funded PhD programmes with Biomedical engineering partners at NUIG, Trinity College Dublin and Galway Medical Institute of Technology. These programmes use advanced 4D and diffusion tensor MRI, tissue testing and computational analytics to investigate aortic and carotid disease processes, with translational potential for commercial imaging techniques. In order to harness the potential for the development of advanced biotechnological techniques, we have established an international consortium to build diagnostic tools for cardiovascular connective tissue disorders, particularly aortic and cervical dissection. This consortium combines expertise in genetics, proteomics, biomarkers, tissue biomechanics, imaging techniques, data science and semantic technologies to develop diagnostics that will inform therapeutic options and disease prognosis. 

Prof Sultan is developing an Artificial intelligence and deep machine learning programs, he was an early adaptor for virtual and augmented reality simulators programs to train the next generation of cardiovascular interventionalists. We combine our prowess in computational and fluid-structure interaction analytics with the software engineering talents partners to develop patient-specific simulations and eLearning tools, which we predict will be the future for clinical training.  The benefit of these tools is that they are cloud-based and, as such, easily transferable and globally applicable.

Prof Sultan is a distinguished Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and President of the American Society of Angiology, Irish chapter. Prof Sultan was elected the President of the International Society for vascular surgery in November 2016. He is a fellow of the society of vascular surgery, a council member of the international community of vascular surgeons, a member of the association of vascular surgeon of Great Britain and Ireland and the European Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery.

Prof Sherif Sultan is an effective team leader, team builder, role model and mentor, and he is dedicated to selecting and developing solid people and committed to setting high standards and leading by example. Prof Sultan is comfortable in delegating responsibilities and empowering others. Day after Day, Prof Sultan had been loyal with an unshakeable commitment to his team but humble and quick to give credit to others.

It is well Known that Prof Sherif Sultan is energetic and disciplined with a strong work ethic, authentic, caring, and sincere. He is open-minded and dedicated to perpetual learning and passionate about vascular surgery with a visionary purpose. Both his passion and excitement are contagious and inspire his team to achieve their enormous potential to pursue excellence in patient care.

For more information on Professor Sultans Vascular service and his research, click on: Facebook, Research Gate, or www.sherifsultan.ie

Email: sherif.sultan@hse.ie