Health · Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
Asif Hasan wins Pride of Britain Lifetime Achievement award
Who is Asif Hasan, the Pride of Britain Lifetime Achievement winner?
Asif Hasan, head of paediatric cardiac surgery at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital for 30 years, won the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2026 Pride of Britain Awards. He estimates he performed around 400 transplants. He also helped develop ways to keep sick children alive until a donor heart is found.
What happened?
Asif Hasan received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2026 Pride of Britain Awards. He retired this year after 30 years as head of paediatric cardiac surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. Pride of Britain calls him a world-leading cardiac surgeon.
Hasan estimates that he performed around 400 transplants.
What did he change?
Hasan helped shape heart surgery and heart transplants for children in the UK. Pride of Britain highlights three parts of his work:
- Bridge to transplant. He co-led Newcastle’s programme that helped bring in the Berlin Heart. This mechanical pump keeps babies and children alive while they wait for a donor heart.
- The bootlace closure. He pioneered a way of closing the breastbone after surgery. It lets children receive donor hearts that would otherwise be too large for them.
- Hard cases. He took on high-risk patients that other heart centres had turned down.
Two of his former patients, Max Johnson and Cecilia Adamou, were earlier Pride of Britain Children of Courage.
What about the next generation?
Hasan trained many children’s heart surgeons in the UK and abroad. “I wanted to train people so that they are not only competent, but better than me,” he said.
He also shared the credit. “I’m quite an ordinary person, but I had so many extraordinary colleagues with me who gave their lives to the patients,” he said.
Why does it matter?
Children who need a new heart can wait a long time for a suitable donor. Machines that support the heart, and techniques that widen the range of usable donor hearts, give these children more time and more chances of a match.
See every 2026 Pride of Britain winner and regional finalist.
Sources & reporting notes
We checked the Pride of Britain winner page and Yahoo News UK's list of 2026 winners, published on 19 October 2026. The figure of around 400 transplants is Hasan's own estimate. The sources do not give his age.
- Pride of Britain Awards · Asif Hasan
Official winner profile covering his career, techniques and former patients.
- Yahoo News UK · 19 October 2026
Full list of 2026 winners. Confirms his award and retirement after 30 years.
Have a correction or a confirmed update? Contact our editorial team.
Common questions
- What is the bootlace closure?
- Pride of Britain says Hasan pioneered the bootlace closure, a way of closing the breastbone after surgery. It allows children to receive donor hearts that would otherwise be too large for them.
- What is the Berlin Heart?
- It is a mechanical blood pump that keeps babies and children alive while they wait for a donor organ. Hasan co-led Newcastle's bridge-to-transplant programme, which helped bring it into use.
