He received his Doctoratein Medicine in 1966 from the University of Paris and in 1975 he received his PhD in chemistry from the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Paris. He was appointed as a member of the cardiac surgery staff of Hôpital Broussais in 1968 before being named Chief of the service in 1982. He has also been appointed Adjunct Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.