Professor McGiffin is a world renown cardiothoracic surgeon. He was an Albert D. Pacifico Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the United States, performing the full range of adult cardiac surgery, heart and lung transplantation, and paediatric heart transplantation, and also commenced the UAB pulmonary endarterectomy program for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Professor McGiffin’s research while at UAB was centred on outcomes research, particularly for transplantation, and also translational research into oxidative stress in patients with chronic mitral regurgitation. On returning Australia in 2013, his research area has focused on hypothermic ex vivo perfusion of donor hearts to substantially extend the ischaemic time without the penalty of primary graft dysfunction. This research is based on a large animal model with orthotopic transplantation and has translated into a planned Australian clinical trial of hypothermic perfusion for human donor hearts, potentially providing more hearts for transplantation. The other area of his research is understanding the mechanisms of driveline infections after ventricular assist device implantation and development of strategies to mitigate infection.