Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham
Ara Warkes Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham OM, KBE, PC, FRS, FMedSci, FRCSI, FRCS, FRCSE, FRCPGlas, FACS, FRCP, FREng (Armenian: Արա Վարդկես Դարսի; born 7 May 1960) is an Armenian-British doctor and politician. He is one of the world's leading surgeons and holds the Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at Imperial College London, specialising in the field of minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery, having pioneered many new techniques and technologies. He has become strongly identified with reform of the National Health Service (NHS) in England and is recognized internationally as an advocate for applying innovative reforms to health systems globally.
Early life and family
Darzi was born in Baghdad, Iraq to Armenian parents displaced by the 1915 genocide. His family had lived in Erzurum, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey). His paternal great-grandparents, Tatyos and Elbiz Shiroian, had one daughter and four sons. Elbiz and her daughter, Arevalous (Darzi's grandmother), were the only survivors of the genocide. They fled on foot to northern Iraq with the aid of a friend of Tatyos. Darzi's father was born in Mosul and his mother was born in Baghdad.