Nishith Patel is a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand and a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland. He completed his Cardiothoracic training in Bristol, London and Papworth in the UK, and was appointed as a Consultant cardiac surgeon at the Royal Papworth Hospital before moving to New Zealand. He currently leads a programme of research in to aortic disease and was recently awarded the Foundation 100 Fellowship by the Heart Foundation of New Zealand.