Peter Sleight

Peter Sleight (27 June 1929 – 7 October 2020) was a British research cardiologist and an Honorary Consultant Physician at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Sleight was Emeritus Field Marshal Alexander Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford and an Emeritus Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

Overview Peter Sleight was a consultant physician/cardiologist in Oxford from 1964. He retired from the British Heart Foundation (BHF)-sponsored Field Marshal Alexander Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine in 1994, but continued to work at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. He was Deputy Chairman of the HPS Steering Committee.

Sleight was a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and an authority in the field of cardiology research.

Sleight was considered to be among world leading eminent cardiologists and co-authored over 500 papers. His work according to Microsoft Academic Search has been cited in over 40,000 papers and in hundreds of text books in the field of cardiology.

Sleight was President of the World Hypertension League from 1995–2000 and served as chair of the ISIS group steering committee and the related coronary prevention studies coordinated by the Clinical Trials Service Unit in Oxford. Previously, he was a consultant physician/cardiologist in Oxford beginning in 1964.

Early life and education

He was born in Hull, the eldest of three children of William Sleight, a town planner in Leeds, and Mary (nee Westmoreland) Sleight.

Career

Medical career In 1964, Consultant Cardiologist Dr Peter Sleight in conjunction with Cardiac Surgeon Dr Alf Gunning from South Africa performed one of the first pioneering operations to install an external Lucas cardiac pacemaker on a patient in her early 30s at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. This involved attaching circular coils internally to the patient's heart and with coils aligned on the outside skin of the patient to transfer the electrical charge from the Artificial cardiac pacemaker connected to external batteries. The patient had previously spent many months connected to a filing cabinet size artificial heart machine known as the "fire engine" because of its red colour.

Sleight completed over 50 years service working for the National Health Service.

Research career Sleight is accredited for being the first to carry out studies of the effect of Aspirin on cardiac function and stroke prevention in the early 1970s. Sleight and his research team at Oxford led the way and formed the foundation for the research into the use of aspirin in the prevention of other medical conditions.

Sleight was an active leading contributor to the field of cardiology research.

Awards Peter Sleight received a number of awards, including the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Young Investigator's Award in 1963, the Evian Award for Medicine and Science, International Society of Hypertension – MSD Award for distinguished research, the Galen Medal for Therapeutics 2000 (Society of Apothecaries), the Mackenzie Medal, British Cardiac Society, Louis Bishop Lecturer American College of Cardiology, the Alberto Zanchetti Lifetime Achievement Award, Gold Medal European Society of Hypertension and a Lifetime Research Award, Russian Federation of Cardiology, Bayer International Aspirin (R) Senior Award 2000.

Sleight suffered a stroke in 2015.