Princess Di Will Visit Montana Heart Surgeons’ Symposium In Missoula To Get Royal Opening

Princess Diana will visit Missoula in August to open an international symposium of heart surgeons, and later will attend a fund-raiser for the Missoula-based International Heart Institute, sponsors say.

The princess has taken a particular interest in heart research and surgery, and her trip will raise international awareness of the work being done in Missoula, said Dr. Carlos Duran.

Duran, who moved his practice from Saudi Arabia to Missoula in 1995, is credited with the research that led to the first human aortic valve implant, in London in 1962.

In 1976, he developed the “Duran Ring” for reconstructing mitral valves.

Princess Diana agreed to speak briefly at the seventh annual Rocky Mountain Valve Symposium at St. Patrick Hospital on Wednesday, Aug. 13, Duran said.

Surgeons from all over the world attend the gathering to see Duran and other surgeons demonstrate techniques for repairing or replacing heart valves in human patients.

She also will be guest for the Saturday, Aug. 16, International Heart Institute benefit, though those details have yet to be worked out, Duran said.

Duran, who has met the princess several times, described her as “very gracious. She is far more natural than the picture most get. She’d like to wear a pair of jeans and sit on the floor.”

She also is a friend of Sir Magdi Yacoub, professor of surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London.

He was in Missoula last summer for a retreat at Salmon Lake that focused on clinical and scientific research possibilities involving Montana institutions.

The Heart Institute is trying to raise $2.5 million for ongoing research.