Zbigniew Eugeniusz Religa (; 16 December 1938 – 8 March 2009) was a prominent Polish cardiac surgeon and politician. Career as doctor Religa finished his studies at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1963. From 1966 to 1980 he worked in the Szpital Wolski in Warsaw, where he qualified in surgery. In 1973, he visited New York City to train in vascular surgery, and in 1975 he trained in cardiac surgery in Detroit. In 1973, he obtained a Ph. D. degree; in 1981 he finished his habilitation, achieving academic recognition similar to an associate professor or senior lecturer. From 1980 to 1984, Religa lectured at the Warsaw Institute of Cardiology. In 1984 he obtained a chair in cardiac surgery and directed the Cardiosurgical Clinic in Zabrze, in 1990 he became full professor at the Silesian Medical University in Katowice, being its rector from 1997 to 1999. In 2001 he returned to Warsaw to become director of both the Clinic of Cardiac Surgery No. 2 and the Institute of Cardiology. A pioneer in human heart transplantation in Poland, he led the team that performed the first successful heart transplantation in the country, and in June 1995 he was the first surgeon to graft an artificial valve created from materials taken from human corpses. In 2004, a team led by Religa obtained a prestigious Brussels Eureka award at the World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and Technology for developing an implantable pump for a pneumatic heart assistance system. Religa held honorary doctorates from the Medical University of Lviv, the Silesian Medical University in Katowice, and the Medical University of Białystok. The first successful heart transplant in Poland was performed on 5 November 1985. The famous heart transplant (photographed by James Stanfield) was in 1987. The patient was Tadeusz Żytkiewicz, who died in 2017 – 30 years after the operation, outliving the surgeon who gave him a new heart. The surgery lasted for 23 hours. After the surgery, an American photographer, James Stanfield from National Geographic, captured the famous, gripping photograph of Religa monitoring his patient's vitals on medical equipment with one of his colleagues, who assisted him during the surgery, asleep in the corner. According to one of Religa's closest associates, Marian Zembala, the photo doesn't show Żytkiewicz. They analyzed the photo and surgery plan and established that Żytkiewicz's surgery took place two hours later in different operating room. The patient in the