Nagy Habib (born 1952) is a British-Egyptian professor of hepato-biliary surgery at

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

, London, and is known for devising

radio-frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the ...

based liver resection devices which remove

liver tumour Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondary ...

with minimal blood loss. His work has also focused on

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

and

gene therapy Gene therapy is Health technology, medical technology that aims to produce a therapeutic effect through the manipulation of gene expression or through altering the biological properties of living cells. The first attempt at modifying human DNA ...

Early life and education

Nagy Habib was born in Cairo, Egypt, 1952. He trained under both and the transplant surgeon

Thomas Starzl Thomas Earl Starzl (March 11, 1926 – March 4, 2017) was an American physician, researcher, and expert on organ transplants. He performed the first human liver transplants, and has often been referred to as "the father of modern transplantation ...

Career

His work has focused on

and

. He led the first clinical trial in the use of

oncolytic adenovirus Adenovirus varieties have been explored extensively as a viral vector for gene therapy and also as an oncolytic virus. Of the many different viruses being explored for oncolytic potential, an adenovirus was the first to be approved by a regulator ...

es for the treatment of

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

. It was carried out by means of a locally restricted injection into the main blood vessel to the liver. The findings were published in 2001. It was found to be safe, but the second phase of the trial did not find it effective. In 2004, he took stem cells from a person with

liver cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

and injected them into their liver artery, resulting in some improvement of liver function. In 2003 he was appointed professor of hepato-biliary surgery at

, London. In June 2007 he was appointed pro-rector for Commercial Affairs at Imperial. Habib developed several

(RF) based liver resection devices. He devised the Habib RF device using the Habib needle, which has a modified version called the Habib 4X. It removes tumour with minimal blood loss. The procedure has come to be known as 'Habib's resection'. MiNA Therapeutics, a

biotechnology company Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

dealing in small activating RNA technology was co-founded by Habib and his son Robert.

Awards and honours

He was awarded the Takreem award in December 2012, for his work in liver cancer and radio-frequency based liver resection.

Selected publications

Articles

* (Co-author) * (Co-author) * (Co-author) * (Co-author)

Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Habib, Nagy 1952 births Living people Egyptian surgeons 21st-century British medical doctors Egyptian emigrants to England Physicians from Cairo Physicians of Hammersmith Hospital 20th-century British surgeons Academics of Imperial College London