Dr Johan van der Merwe

Endoscopic and Hybrid Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Dr Johan van der Merwe is a specialist “keyhole” minimally invasive heart and lung surgeon.

He obtained his basic medical degree (MBChB) from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) in 2002 and identified his special interest in general- and trauma surgery, cardiology, pulmonology and intensive care during his House Officer / Internship at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in 2003, which is the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere. He subsequently focused on trauma surgery and intensive care at Sebokeng Hospital (South Africa) in 2004 during his Senior House Officer training and joined the department of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) as specialist registrar for 6 years, serving an adult- and paediatric population of 6 million people.

He qualified as specialist cardiothoracic surgeon and intensivist in 2010 at the age of 32 years and was awarded a 2 year fellowship at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London (United Kingdom), sub-specialising in advanced thoracic oncology surgery, endoscopic lung resections (VATS), endobronchial interventional surgery, mitral valve repair surgery, trans-catheter aortic valve replacement and mitral clip implantation. He subsequently joined the cardiac surgery team at the University Hospital of Leuven (Belgium) in 2013, where he trained for 12 months in off-pump, total arterial coronary artery revascularization, minimally invasive aortic- and mitral valve surgery, cardiac assist device implantation and cardiac transplantation. In 2014, he was given the opportunity to join the department of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the Onze Lieve Vrouw Clinic in Aalst (Belgium) for intense 3 year training in robotic-, endoscopic-, hybrid- and trans-catheter cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.

During this period, he enrolled for a doctoral degree (PhD) at Erasmus University (Netherlands) and continues to publish various articles in international journals relating to minimally invasive cardiac surgery. In 2016, he became the first South African to be admitted as a Fellow to the European Board of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EBCTS) following the successful participation in the pan-European examination (FETCS). He is an active member of the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EACTS), European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS), The Belgian Association for Cardiac- and Thoracic Surgeons (BACTS), the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management of the Royal College of Medicine (United Kingdom). In 2017, he established minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery as a specialised entity at Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital (South Africa), initiated a specialist mobile “heart murmur” and “lung mass” clinic and hosted an international faculty for the “first-in-Africa”, Cardiac Surgical Unit Advanced Life Support course as part of ongoing promotion and improvement of “state-of-the-art” cardiac surgical care.