Professor of Medicine specialising in cardiac surgery
Francine Leca (20 May 1938 – 15 June 2024) was a French cardiac surgeon and professor of medicine specialising in heart surgery, a pioneer of the discipline in pediatrics.
Biography
Francine Leca gravitated toward medicine at a very young age. During an internship in cardiac surgery under professor Jean Mathey at Laennec Hospital, she assisted her first open heart surgery. As an intern at hôpitaux de Paris, she discovered pediatric cardiac surgery under Professor George Lemoine. She went on to specialize in congenital heart defects.[1]
Leca was the first woman to become a cardiac surgeon in France,[2] and was the chief of services of cardiac surgery, first at Laennec Hospital and then Hôpital Necker in Paris until 2003.
In 1996 Leca along with Patrice Roynette founded the organization Mécénat Chirurgie cardiaque [fr]- Enfant du Monde (Mécénat Cardiac Surgery - Child of the World) which raises funds to treat children with serious heart conditions who could not otherwise receive treatment in their home countries.[3]
