Leon Abrams

{{Short description|British surgeon}}

File:BirminghamQueenElizabethHospitalMedicalSchool.jpg]]

Leon David Abrams FRCS (1923–2012) was a British cardiothoracic surgeon who developed and implanted the first variable rate heart pacemaker, together with Ray Lightwood, at the University of Birmingham.{{cite news|title=100 UK university discoveries|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jul/05/highereducation.uk2|accessdate=29 December 2014|work=The Guardian|date=5 July 2006}}

Leon Abrams was born in Leeds.{{Cite web|url=http://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E003592b.htm|title = Abrams, Leon David (1923 - 2012)}} He graduated from Birmingham University with an MBChB degree in Medicine in 1945.{{Cite web |url=http://bhamalumni.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1111&frcrld=1 |title=University of Birmingham |access-date=2014-12-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006065509/http://bhamalumni.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1111&frcrld=1 |archive-date=2014-10-06 |url-status=dead }}

Abrams was a cardiothoracic surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. With medical engineer Ray Lightwood, he developed and implanted the first variable rate pacemaker in 1960. The first variable rate pacemaker implant took place in March 1960. Two further implants took place in April 1960. Fifty-six patients had received implants by 1966. He set up a leading centre for lung and heart surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.{{Cite web |title=booklet final pdf |url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/culture/bookletfinalpdf.pdf |website=www.birmingham.ac.uk}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Setting+the+pace%3B+EDUCATION+MATTERS+UNIVERSITY+OF+BIRMINGHAM+1960s%3A...-a0176334268|title = Setting the pace; EDUCATION MATTERS UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM 1960s: Developing pacemakers 2008: Tackling global obesity. - Free Online Library}}

Leon Abrams was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1951.