The doctor | Dr. Seyed Alireza Rabi
Dr. Seyed Alireza Rabi performed Canada’s first transplant with a heart that had stopped beating
By Dr. Thomas Forbes — Surgeon-in-chief, UHN
Dr. Seyed Alireza Rabi represents the type of talent that signals something bigger than a single medical achievement — he represents what it means for Toronto to be a global magnet for world-class innovators. Dr. Rabi immigrated to Canada from Iran with his family at a young age, eventually leaving to pursue elite surgical training in the United States, including advanced fellowship work at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the earliest adopters of donation-after-circulatory-death (DCD) heart transplantation. He could have built his career anywhere. The fact that he chose to come to Toronto says everything about what this city, and this country, are becoming. At UHN, he led the team that completed Canada’s first DCD heart transplant — a breakthrough that could increase our national heart-donor pool by as much as 30 per cent and dramatically reduce wait-list deaths for patients with end-stage heart failure. This procedure was not simply a technical feat; it fundamentally redefines what is possible in Canadian transplant care. Dr. Rabi brought more than a skill set to Canada. He brought hope — hope for the patients waiting and hope for a country that is ready to lead.
