Academic Committee

Sir John Fisher Foundation / RCS England Chair of Surgical Trials and Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Liverpool and The Walton Centre. 

RCS England National Neurosurgery Specialty Lead.  Clinical subspecialisation in neuro-oncology. 

Professor of Neurosurgical Oncology, Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge.
Stephen Price is the Professor of Neurosurgical Oncology and Hon. Consultant Neurosurgeon in Cambridge. He is the surgical lead for neuro-oncology and has a clinical interest in surgical oncology for gliomas, awake craniotomy and brain mapping, fluorescence guided surgery and patient reported outcomes.
 

Ryan Mathew is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds and an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. His clinical practice covers the full spectrum of general neurosurgery with a subspecialty interest in brain tumours; in particular gliomas, meningiomas and awake surgery. He is Health Lead for Leeds XR, the Basic/Translational Science Lead for the Academic Committee of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons, member of the British Neuro-Oncology Society Research Subcommittee, a HoloMedicine Association Founding Member and Core Committee member of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission Novel Therapeutics Accelerator

Prof Gray is an academic neurosurgeon who leads a Biomedical Research Centre focussing on delivering Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) to the brain in First-in-human clinical trials. He and his colleagues have been working on translational cell and gene therapies in Cardiff over the last 15-20 years.

He is the Advanced Therapies Clinical lead for Wales; chairs the Brain Research UK Scientific Advisory Panel and is the Translational Research co-lead for the Academic Committee of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. He is UK PI for the UniQure AMT-130 Gene therapy trial in Huntington’s Disease (HD) and leads the European HD Network’s (EHDN) Advanced Therapies Working Group (ATWG) and Surgical delivery Task Force (SDTF).

Paul Brennan is Professor of Clinical and Experimental neurosurgery at the University of Edinburgh, Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon and Clinical Director at NHS Lothian. He is a Council Member of the Royal College Surgeons of Edinburgh.

 

Paul’s research spans the laboratory and the clinic, combining molecular, epidemiology and clinical investigation to guide rationale innovation to improve patient care. He was co-founder of the British Neurosurgical Trainee Research Collaborative and has made a significant contribution to neurosurgical clinical research, most currently as Chief Investigator of the DENS study – concerning odontoid fracture management. Paul collaborates on bringing innovative technologies to the clinic, helping to develop the clinical and scientific evidence for adoption into routine care, such as the DxCover spectroscopic liquid biopsy test that can stratify patients with suspected brain tumours for priority brain imaging.   

Consultant Neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Honorary Associate Professor at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Lead for Neurosurgery and Brain Cancer in the North Thames NIHR CRN. Clinical subspecialisation in pituitary and related skull base tumours.

Mueez Waqar is a Neurosurgical trainee based in Manchester. He has completed an NIHR ACF in Neurosurgery and a CRUK-funded PhD setting up the first human trial of neoadjuvant radiotherapy for glioblastoma. He is currently serving as chair of the British Neurosurgical Trainees Research Collaborative (BNTRC). His interests include Neuro-oncological clinical trials, big data applications in Neurosurgery and advanced MRI processing. 

Mr Callum Allison is the BNTA Academic Representative for 2024-2026. He is an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow and Speciality Registrar based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with the majority of his research being focussed within functional neuro-oncology.

Prior to commencing his neurosurgical training, he completed his MClinRes by performing an investigation into the surgical management and molecular characteristics of incidentally discovered low-grade gliomas. He is the North East's first NIHR integrated academic neurosurgical trainee, which affords dedicated research time.

He is particularly interested in promoting collaborative, resident-led neurosurgical research across the UK, whilst providing a platform for local units to gain access to national support from the BNTA/BNTRC. 

He is happy to be contacted by e-mail regarding any trainee-related academic matter on [email protected].

Michael Cearns is a Specialty Registrar in Neurosurgery. Having qualified from UCL and completed his Foundation posts in Cambridge, he undertook his initial neurosurgical training in Glasgow. He subsequently moved to the University of Liverpool to complete a PhD studying the cellular and molecular immunology of glioblastoma. He serves on the SBNS Academic Committee in his role as an RCS(Eng) Associate Surgical Specialty Lead for Neurosurgery.

Rory Piper is a Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Neurosurgery at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. His research focuses on deep brain stimulation and other neuromodulation therapies for children with drug-resistant epilepsy. Rory is an Associate Surgical Speciality Lead for Neurosurgery and has previously been the Chair of the British Neurosurgical Trainee Research Collaborative (BNTRC).

Research Associate
SBNS Research Development & Clinical Trials Manager

University of Cambridge Dept of Clinical Neurosciences
Division of Neurosurgery
Box 167
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Cambridge
CB2 0QQ

Tel: 01223 217205
Fax: 01223 216 926
Email: [email protected]