Leading heart failure cardiologist and RSA-Pace principal investigator joins as the company prepares its next clinical study
Ceryx Medical (Ceryx), the bioelectronic medtech company developing a new class of heart failure therapy, today announced the appointment of Professor Zaheer Yousef OBE as Chief Medical Officer.
Professor Yousef is one of the UK’s leading authorities on heart failure and cardiac pacing. He has been a Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales since 2005, where he leads the advanced heart failure, cardiomyopathy and cardiac device services for South East Wales, and he holds an honorary chair at Cardiff University. He is also Clinical Lead for Cardiovascular Research in Wales. Over his career he has implanted more than 3,000 biventricular pacing devices and has served as principal investigator on more than 35 multi-centre clinical trials. In the King’s New Year Honours 2025 he was awarded an OBE for services to the treatment of heart failure.
Professor Yousef was principal investigator on RSA-Pace, Ceryx’s multi-centre clinical study of its respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) pacing technology, which recruited patients across sites in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The study confirmed that the biomimetic pacing effect observed in Ceryx’s preclinical work translates into patients, and the company intends to report the full results in the coming months.
His appointment comes as Ceryx moves from that first translational milestone towards a clinical study designed to demonstrate the full clinical benefit of its implantable device in people living with heart failure. As Chief Medical Officer he will lead the design and delivery of that programme and provide clinical leadership across the company’s development, regulatory and evidence-generation activities.
Dr Stuart Plant, CEO of Ceryx Medical, said: “Zaheer has been central to the clinical story of this company. He led RSA-Pace, he understands the therapy as well as anyone in the world, and he has seen what it does in patients at the bedside. Having him join us as Chief Medical Officer at this point in our journey — as we move from proving that the technology works in humans to demonstrating the difference it can make to patients’ lives — is enormously valuable.
Professor Zaheer Yousef OBE said: “I have spent my career looking after patients with heart failure, and progress in the field has been hard won. What drew me to Ceryx is that this is a genuinely different approach — restoring the natural coupling between breathing and heart rhythm rather than overriding it — and what we saw in RSA-Pace was encouraging enough that I wanted to be part of taking it further.”
“The next study is the one that matters. It is the opportunity to show what this therapy can do for patients over time, and I am looking forward to helping design and deliver it alongside the team.”
Heart failure affects more than 20 million people across Europe and the US and remains the leading cause of hospitalisation in people over 65. Once diagnosed the condition is difficult to halt, with around half of patients dying within five years. Ceryx’s technology is designed to improve the efficiency of the failing heart and to support the heart’s own repair mechanisms, offering a treatment option for patients who are not served by existing pacing therapies.
Ceryx Medical has attracted interest from partners and investors in the UK and abroad, with backing from leading MedTech investors including BGF, Parkwalk Advisors and the Development Bank of Wales.