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.
Francine Leca | |
|---|---|
 Leca in 2015 | |
| Born | Françoise Anne-Marie Rolande Leca 20 May 1938 |
| Died | 15 June 2024 (aged 86) Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Yvelines, France |
| Alma mater | Paris Descartes University |
| Title | Professor of Medicine specialising in cardiac surgery |
Biography
editFrancine 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 - 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]
Leca died on 15 June 2024 in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche at the age of 86.[4]
Distinctions
edit- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.[5]
- Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite.
Honors
edit- The Marcel Rudloff Prize of Tolerance 2015.[6]
- Gold Women Trophy of 1998
Bibliography
edit- Elizabeth Drévillon, Professeur Leca : Chirurgien du cœur, Éditions Anne Carrière, 2003. ISBN 978-2843372162
- Elide Montesi, « Francine Leca », in Les filles d'Hippocrate, Les Éditions Acrodacrolivres, 2014, p. 125–130 ISBN 9782930756233
References
edit- ^ Merlin, Benoît. "Francine Leca: on entre dans le moteur et on répare". Cles magazine. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ Bonnec, Sidonie (9 March 2022). "Francine Leca, la première femme à être devenue chirurgienne cardiaque en France" (in French). France Bleu. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ Gilbert, Charles (9 October 1997). "Francine Leca, chirurgienne: «Je me suis accrochée, c'est tout»". LExpress.fr (in French). Retrieved 29 March 2022.
- ^ "Francine Leca, première chirurgienne cardiaque de France, est décédée". Ouest-France (in French). 15 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Loi du {{{date in French}}}
- ^ "Prix de la Tolérance 2015" (in French). March 2015. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
External links
edit- « Francine Leca, à cœur ouvert », À voix nue, par Claire Pouly-Borgeaud. Réalisation : Rafik Zenine. France Culture, May 2016.
- Margaux Rambert, « Francine Leca, à cœur ouvert », psychologies.com, November 2010.