Brian G. Firth was born and raised in South Africa. He obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB,ChB., or MD equivalent) from the University of Cape Town. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and proceeded to study at Oxford (Exeter College, South-Africa-at-Large, 1972). He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) in fluid dynamics/hemodynamics as well as his physician specialist degree (MRCP) in three years and returned to Cape Town where he began his cardiology training at the famed Groote Schuur Hospital. He married his Irish wife Margaret and emigrated to the USA where he served as a Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Director of the Coronary Care Unit, Director of the Cardiology Fellowship training program, and Associate Director of the Division of Cardiology at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas TX. He retired from this position in 1990 as a tenured full Professor of Medicine. During that period, he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a Fellow of the American Heart Association, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and also obtained an MBA. He also served on the National Council of the American Federation for Clinical Research and chaired the Public Policy committee.

From 1990-1992 he was Executive Director for Worldwide Cardiovascular Strategic Product Planning at Bristol Myers Squibb, and from 1992-1995 Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, of GH Besselaar Associates, the largest worldwide Contract Research organization, with 650 employees at 4 locations in the US as well as Sydney, Australia. He joined Johnson and Johnson Interventional Systems in 1995 prior to its merger with Cordis Corporation. During the next 13 years he was directed clinical trials of the original coronary and peripheral arterial Palmaz stents, development and clinical trials of their successors, and ultimately development of the world’s first drug-eluting coronary stent, the CYPHER™ sirolimus eluting-stent. He served successively as Worldwide Vice President of Research and Development, Clinical Research, Health Economics and Reimbursement and played a central role in court over 10 years in defending the stent patents held by Johnson & Johnson (J&J), resulting in $3.6 billion cumulative payments to J&J. The clinical trials performed with these stents dramatically changed the treatment of coronary artery disease, and especially acute myocardial infarction (MI) or “heart attacks”, the leading cause of death in western societies. There are now estimated to be over 50 million people with stents worldwide.

After retiring from J&J in 2008, he spent the next 9 years serving on multiple non-profit Boards, including Heritage Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that specializes in land conservation and natural resource protection. From 2017 until early this year, he served on the Board and as Chief Scientific Officer for Thrombolex Inc. He was the Principal Investigator on an NIH grant that funded the pivotal RESCUE clinical trial for the treatment of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE), using the BASHIR™ Endovascular Catheter. This trial showed best in class efficacy and safety with a device that has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of PE, as happened with coronary stents in the treatment of patients with acute MIs. PE is the third leading cause of cardiovascular death after acute MI and stroke worldwide.