Sir Brian Gerald Barratt-Boyes (born Brian Gerald Boyes, 13 January 1924 – 8 March 2006) was a pioneering New Zealand cardiothoracic surgeon. He was known for early development of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, early implantation of a cardiac pacemaker before these devices became commercially available in 1961, early use of human cadaveric aortic homografts for aortic valve replacement, and introduced the use of hypothermia and cardiac arrest for surgery in neonates and infants. Early life and education Barratt-Boyes was born on 13 January 1924 in Wellington, New Zealand. He was educated at Wellington College. After a year at Victoria University College, he studied medicine at Otago's Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand, graduating in 1946. He continued his training as a surgeon, initially in New Zealand, and later at the Mayo Clinic (1953–55) and as a Nuffield Fellow in Bristol (1955–56). At Mayo he worked under John W. Kirklin, the two developing a high mutual regard that endured and grew over the years. Career In 1956 he was recruited back to Auckland, New Zealand by Sir Douglas Robb, and pioneered the development of cardiopulmonary bypass in that country, the first patient being operated on in 1958. While this task must have been made more difficult by New Zealand's relative remoteness and small population, the Greenlane Hospital surgical team quickly achieved an international reputation for innovative excellence. Indeed, he suggested that Auckland's isolation conferred an advantage comparable to that enjoyed by the Mayo Clinic in small-town Rochester, Minnesota, making it less likely that day-to-day interruptions would interfere with the real purpose of their work. Much of the original equipment had to be fashioned or modified locally. Sid Yarrow, an engineer on the team, built an early external pacemaker for intra-operative use. The first permanent unit, from Medtronic, was implanted in 1961. In 1962 he introduced, independently but simultaneously with Donald Ross in London, the human cadaveric aortic homograft for aortic valve replacement and for many years he worked to perfect valve preparation, emphasizing its inherent physiologic advantages and simplifying its surgical implant technique. He and his team's results became the standard for others to match. In 1969 he brought the technique of profound hypothermia and circulatory arrest into the limelight as a practical method for dealing with major corrective surgery in neonates with congenital heart disease, in so doing further establishing Greenlane Hospital on the international stage. In recognition of these and