Mr Zacharias is a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the Lancashire Cardiac Centre in Blackpool and past Chairman and current President of the British and Irish society of Minimally invasive cardiac surgeons (BISMICS). He trained in cardiothoracic surgery at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, The Royal Brompton Hospital, London and The Freeman Hospital, Newcastle. He did a observership/ fellowship in cardiac surgery at The Cleveland Clinic Ohio, USA, The OLV Clinic, Aalst, Belgium, and St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. He was appointed to the consultant post in 2004 and was Clinical Director and Head of department from 2010 to 2015.
His interests lie in developing minimally invasive endoscopic techniques in cardiothoracic surgery. He has successfully developed a programme of minimally invasive mitral valve and tricuspid valve surgery and atrial fibrillation ablation using an Endoscopic approach. Blackpool was one of the first centres to adopt endoscopicconduit harvesting of saphenous vein and radial artery for coronary artery surgery in the UK and has published excellent 10 year results. Since 2015 all isolated aortic valve replacements have been done by a non sternotomy approach (ART/ Endoscopic) and in excess of 150 cases have been completed with excellent outcomes using sutured valves. Mr Zacharias acts as a proctor for minimally invasive surgery and has successfully proctored many surgeons and teams across UK and Europe. He is secretary to the global Endoscopic cardiac Surgeons Club (ECSClub).