Jihad Mustapha

Jihad Mustapha, MD, FACC, FSCAI, has held many academic and professional titles throughout his career, but the one he's most proud of is the simplest: “The Leg Saver.”

A board-certified interventional cardiologist, Dr. Jihad Mustapha developed the notion early in his practice that a device to unblock arteries leading to the heart might be used to perform the same thing for legs. Dr. Jihad Mustapha performed his first peripheral vascular limb-salvage treatment more than a dozen years ago, preventing the amputation of the leg of a 52-year-old woman suffering from severe peripheral artery disease, or PAD.

Today, Dr. Jihad Mustapha is recognized throughout the world as a pioneer for his groundbreaking work in critical limb ischemia, or CLI, which is marked by the severe obstruction of arteries drastically reducing blood flow to the extremities. Left untreated, CLI can result in amputations. He has authored numerous papers and teaches and speaks internationally on the topic.