Staff Profile

I am a consultant ENT, head, neck and thyroid surgeon at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.  My research focuses on patient centred decision making, informed consent and functional outcomes after cancer treatment.  My clinical work centres on developing safe processes of care, reducing inequality and developing the roles of Allied Healthcare Professionals and trainee surgeons.

I am currently setting up and running the MRC and NIHR funded Laryngeal Cancer Cohort (LARCH), which will open throughout the North of England.  LARCH collects routine tumour, patient and outcome data and uses this to analyse treatment effectiveness and outcome in cancer of the larynx.

I have extensive experience of qualitative and qualitative research and completed a qualitative PhD using ethnographic methods in 2014 entitled "Shared decision making and the multidisciplinary team in head and neck cancer".

I achieved BMedSci (Hons) in 2003, MBBS in 2004, PhD in 2014 and FRCS in 2017.  I also have a diploma in Clinical Research (2012) and in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery (2007).   

I have developed a programme of research investigating precision medicine in laryngeal cancer; this disease affects disadvantaged and aging populations and costs the NHS £96m/year to treat.  Survival has decreased over 30 years and treatments often render a patient permanently reliant on a tracheostomy or feeding tube. 

I am the chief investigator for the LARCH study which aims to define precision medicine in laryngeal cancer.  LARCH will open in eight centres across the North of England (Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Hull, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool) and collect clinical, function and quality of life data at presentation, 6, 12 and 24 months.  In time, LARCH will collect all scans and biobank all tissue biopsies; the cohort will thus act as a springboard for future research and therapeutics in this field 

The NHS Five Year Forward View outlined a core aim of allowing patients to make informed decisions about their care and treatment, however an informed dialogue of risk and prognosis is currently impossible in laryngeal cancer.

In developing this research theme, I collaborate widely with colleagues throughout the UK.  I work closely with the “Applied Cancer Therapeutics and Outcomes” research theme within the Population Health Sciences Institute, and the “Biological Modelling” department of the Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University to develop prognostication and risk modelling tools.  I also have close links with the Northern Institute of Cancer Research and Liverpool Head and Neck Cancer Centre, the Northern Pathology Imaging Co-operative (industry partners) investigating the use of artificial intelligence in laryngeal histology and Imperial College London, developing a novel “radiomics” tool to predict how a laryngeal cancer will respond to treatment.

I am leading the inauguration of the Northern Cancer Alliance, a collaboration of eight northern head and neck cancer centres, in partnership with the Northern Health Science Alliance.  Through this, I have  the first laryngeal cancer disease cohort which has the potential to revolutionise treatment options in this disease.

Grant funding

£228,222 Medical Research Council, lead applicant.  “Defining precision medicine in laryngeal cancer: developing an enhanced clinical cohort”

£990,000 Reckitt Benckiser, industry partner, joint lead applicant “Trial of Alginates in the persistent throat symptoms” 

£50,000, Reckitt Benckiser industry partner, lead applicant “Factors influencing the use of alginates in the treatment of persistent throat symptoms: patient and clinician insight generation” 

£110,000, NIHR, Co-applicant "Palliative Partners in Head and Neck Cancer" 

£268,000, NIHR, lead applicant, Doctoral Research Fellowship, “Patient involvement in multidisciplinary team decision making in head and neck cancer: an ethnographic study” NIHR-DRF-2010-03-54 (2010),

£5000, North East Children’s Cancer Research Fund, lead applicant, to support costs during BMedSci (2002)

£1.1 million, NIHR: Nasal Airway Obstruction Study (NAIROS), ISRCTN16168569 (2016) co-applicant.  A large multicentre RCT into the effectiveness of septoplasty 2016

£25,000, Newcastle Charities, Co-applicant “A qualitative study of caregiver experiences of caring for a child with a tracheostomy - the paediatric tracheQal study” 2020

• I developed and inaugurated the Informed Consent: Sharing the Decision (ICONS)” course teaching shared decision making and consent post-Montgomery, hosted by the Royal College of Surgeons. Delivered four times annually
• Secretary for the national British Otolaryngology and Allied Science Research Society (BOARS)
• Developed an online training package for the Elefent website (hosted by ENTUK) covering the assessment and management of thyroid masses

• Two cross speciality webinars on informed consent

• Cadaveric teaching: Transoral robotic Surgery and Head and Neck Dissection, feedback 100% “very good” or “excellent” (2019)
• Two head and neck dissection courses delivered as a webinar “live dissection” from NSTC to around 100 national trainees (2020)
• Formal teaching delivered:
• GP
• Medical students
• Anaesthetists
• Clinical supervisor to one ENT registrar and one F2 doctor on each clinical rotation (2019-2021 six F2 doctors and four ST3 doctors)

Medical students:

• Anatomy demonstrator, 2005
• Newcastle MBBS
• Chronic Illness and Rehabilitation
• Child Health
• Foundations of Clinical Practice
• Otolaryngology “Resource Day”
• Medicine in Society
• Examiner for stage 3 and stage 4 MBBS OSCE

Junior Doctors

• Organised junior doctor induction 2012-2014
• Core trainee teaching
• Teacher/facilitator on “Prepared 4 ENT” Course
  

Allied health professional

• Tracheostomy training day, Cumberland Infirmary
• Speech and Language Head and Neck Cancer training day, Newcastle
• MSc Dysphagia
• Speech and Language Therapy Special Interest Group
  

Other

• Masters in Clinical Research Qualitative Research Module
• Speaker at “Mini Medical School” (public engagement)