A tribute to Peter Sleight, MD
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Peter Sleight, MD, DM, FRCP, FACC, who chaired the ISIS trials that defined treatments to prevent mortality in MI, died in October at the age of 91.
Sleight, the first BHF Field Marshal Earl Alexander Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Oxford University, was known for his research in the relationship of ventricular receptors to cardiac physiology and in BP regulation and variability before launching the ISIS trials, which were among the first large, simple international trials in cardiology, in the late 1970s.
Salim Yusuf, MD, DPhil, FRCP, FACC, executive director of the Population Research Health Institute and distinguished professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, who was advised by Sleight as a DPhil student and helped him launch the ISIS trials, said in an interview that Sleight’s greatest contribution to cardiology was “the internationalization of randomized trials involving not just academic centers but also community hospitals through the ISIS trials.”
The ISIS trials established that treating MI with streptokinase and aspirin greatly reduced mortality and led to thrombolytic and antiplatelet therapies becoming standard treatments for MI, paving the way for primary PCI. Sleight also co-chaired the HOPE trials of ACE inhibitors with Yusuf and the HPS trials of statins with Rory Collins, MBBS, MSc, among other projects that made an impact on the practice of cardiology.
Another major contribution, Yusuf said, was “the large number of people he trained around the world, who he helped mentor for decades.”
He said that despite a busy travel schedule, Sleight always made time for his advisees and connected with them on a personal level.
“When I was at Oxford, I did not have money to go back to India for Christmas, and he would invite me over to spend Christmas with him and his family,” Yusuf said. “I felt like a member of the family. He was an incredibly kind man.”
Cardiology Today Chief Medical Editor Carl J. Pepine, MD, MACC, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Florida, said Sleight was a “one of kind colleague” who always had time to discuss any issues related to cardiology.
“He would gladly agree to travel to the U.S. to speak or be on a committee related to a clinical trial and he always made an important contribution,” Pepine said. “Also, he loved golf and we played at many of the best U.S. courses, and his home course in Oxfordshire. Peter will be missed by all.”
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