Dr Leonard Shapiro

Dr Leonard Shapiro is a highly experienced Consultant Cardiologist currently seeing private patients at Papworth Hospital and Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital. He earned his medical degree with honours from the University of Manchester in 1976, following a First Class Honours Degree in Medical Biochemistry at the same university in 1973. Dr Shapiro further pursued a Research Doctorate Degree (MD) in Heart Disease related to diabetes, successfully completing it in 1981.

His extensive postgraduate training took place in London at the Hammersmith Hospital, Brompton Hospital, and the National Heart Hospital. In 1988, he was appointed as a Consultant Cardiologist at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. He later became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Dr Shapiro strives to provide thorough investigations followed by compassionate reassurance, allowing his patients to return to a normal life. He has specialist expertise in coronary disease, structural heart disease, and intervention. He also has clinical interests, including: heart valve disease, the hearts of athletes, screening footballers for heart disease and echocardiography. 

Alongside his clinical work, Dr Shapiro has served as the Medical Adviser to the Football Association for over two decades. He also initiated a Nationwide Screening Programme aimed at detecting life-threatening heart abnormalities in young footballers, striving to prevent sudden death. Dr Shapiro, in collaboration with the Medical Department of the Football Association and the Professional Football Association, has examined over 25,000 footballers in this ongoing project. He is also the Founding President of the British Society of Echocardiography.