My dad was a surgeon in Egypt. He was a general surgeon. As a little boy I always admired what he was doing, and I wanted to do surgery.

I always wanted to be a surgeon, because I had a lot of admiration for my father, who is also a surgeon. I also wanted to be a heart surgeon. That was motivated by the fact that my young aunt, a sister of my dad, died in her early 20s of a correctable heart disease.

If I wasn't going to be a surgeon, I wanted to be a farmer or grow oranges or something like that. I grow flowers now - orchids. That is something that I find very interesting.

As a heart surgeon I am on constant call, and when not researching or giving lectures, I like to be with my family.

I have a charity called the Chain Of Hope, where we target children from poor areas where heart surgery is not available, and we offer our services.

Leaving Egypt and the people I loved so much, and the environment I liked, was definitely worth it, because I also have great love for medicine and science.