The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau’s Cardiac Surgery Service covers a healthcare area with a population of 1.3 million people. A centre of excellence for cardiovascular pathologies, the Service operates programmes for valve repair and advanced treatment of heart failure, among others. In fact, the first heart transplant in Spain was performed at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in 1984. The Service also has a long tradition in the provision of training for both cardiac surgery specialists and medical students at Barcelona Autonomous University. The Service also welcomes external students and specialists from other cities and countries. Its research group has also established partnerships with other related teams through the good offices of the Sant Pau Research Institute. The group participates in several research projects, both internal and external, some of them involving multicentre collaboration at local, national and international level.