About the Editors

Nihal Gurusinghe

Professor Nihal Gurusinghe is the senior Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Preston. His subspecialty interests are Neurovascular and Skull base conditions.

He is a member of the Executive Council of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS) initially as the Honorary Secretary (2000-2005) and since 2011 has the remit of being the Council lead to co-ordinate the development of NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines relating to neurosurgical practice. 

He has a huge experience as a trainer and has served on the Specialist Advisory Committee (Neurosurgery) and is currently an examiner for the FRCS examinations in neurosurgery (UK and International) representing the JCIE and JSCFE bodies of the Royal Colleges. He has represented the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh College as examiner (2004-2022) and as Assessor (2020-2022) for the Conjoint FRCS Neurosurgery examination with the Royal College of Hong Kong and University of Singapore. He continues to serve on the Surgical Specialty Board of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh (2008-2022) initially as Chair and currently as a Board Member.

He is an enthusiastic clinical teacher and surgical trainer and is a Faculty member for the International Skull Base cadaver course run by the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He contributes to the teaching of Neuroanatomy to the medical undergraduates at the University of Central Lancashire.

Peter Hutchinson

Peter Hutchinson BSc (Hons), MBBS, PhD (Cantab), FRCS (Surg Neurol) FMedSci is Professor of Neurosurgery, NIHR Research Professor and Head of the Division of Academic Neurosurgery at the University of Cambridge. He is Director of Clinical Research at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 

He holds an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon post at Addenbrooke’s Hospital with a sub-specialist interest in the management of neuro-trauma, specifically head and traumatic brain injury. He has a research interest in acute brain injury, utilising monitoring technology  to increase the understanding of the pathophysiology of brain injury, and in the investigation and treatment of concussion. He also leads the international RESCUE studies evaluating the role of decompressive craniectomy in traumatic brain injury. He was awarded the Olivecrona Prize (the “Nobel Prize for Neurosurgery”) for his work on cerebral metabolism in acute brain injury).

He has co-authored over 500 publications (including NEJM,  Lancet and Brain) and been lead applicant in over £20m of grants (including MRC and NIHR). He is joint editor of the Oxford Textbook of Neurological Surgery and “Head Injury – A Multidisciplinary Approach”. 

He is Director of Clinical Studies at Robinson College, Past President of Clinical Neurosciences Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, Meetings Secretary of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons, Treasurer of the International Neurotrauma Society and Chief Medical Officer for the Formula One British Grand Prix. 

Ioannis Fouyas

Mr Fouyas has been employed as a Consultant Neurosurgeon in Edinburgh since 2002. His subspecialty clinical interests focus on the treatment of complex cerebrovascular and skull base pathologies. He was fortunate to pursue a Chief Residency at the Mayfield Clinic in Cincinnati at the end of his neurosurgical training and preserved his affiliation with the North American Neurosurgical Community, most recently organising the 3rd World AVM Congress in Napa, California, in 2016. His academic endeavours are similarly relevant, having completed a PhD Thesis in the field of cerebrovascular pathophysiology at the University of Edinburgh. He strongly believes in the importance of technical surgical training, running annually an international cadaveric workshop at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Finally, he is heavily involved in the Undergraduate Neuroscience teaching with in the University of Edinburgh, with a particular focus on functional Neuroanatomy.

Naomi Slator

Naomi Slator FRCS (SN) is a Consultant Spinal Neurosurgeon based at North Bristol NHS Trust. She has a specialist interest in Complex Spine alongside Cranial and Spinal Trauma. She completed her neurosurgical training in Birmingham and a six-month Fellowship in CSF and Trauma (2019). She then went on to complete her Spinal Fellowship in Leeds (2020) before moving to the southwest to take up her consultant post.  Naomi has published several journal articles and book chapters and regularly presents at specialist international conferences. She also works in a pre-hospital setting for sports events in the West Midlands and South West alongside being involved in training. Outside of spinal surgery, she maintains a keen interest in marine conservation – working on voluntary basis in Coral Reef research since 2015 as well as being an experienced dive master. She has also engaged in extensive charity work in countries such as Honduras, Indonesia, Nepal and Greece as well as expedition work in Kenya and Uganda.

Ian Kamaly-Asl

Ian Kamaly-Asl is professor of paediatric neurosurgery at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.  His training was in the North-Western Deanery with fellowships at Boston Children’s Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Ian is neurosurgical lead for the paediatric neuro-oncology (including the national paediatric proton service), paediatric neurovascular and paediatric NF1 and NF2 services.

Ian is an elected member of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons Council and is the national lead for tackling bullying undermining and harassment in neurosurgery.  He is the past chairman of the British Paediatric Neurosurgical Group.

Ian has had various national roles in surgical education; member of the Neurosurgery Specialist Advisory Committee, National lead for simulation in neurosurgery, Secretary to the Neurosurgical National Selection Board and North-Western Deanery Training Programme Director.

Ian is the principal investigator for several national/international studies and has extensively published in peer reviewed journals, book chapters and national guidelines.

Peter Whitfield

Professor Peter Whitfield is a Consultant Neurosurgeon at the South West Neurosurgical Centre, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.  His clinical interests include vascular neurosurgery, neuro oncology and trauma.  He has held many roles in postgraduate neurosurgical education including Chairman and Secretary of the National Neurosurgery Selection Board, Chairman of the Specialists Advisory Committee in Neurosurgery and Chairman of the Fellowship of the European Board of Neurological Surgery Examination (2015-2023).  He is an intercollegiate and international examiner in neurosurgery (FRCS).  Peter led the development of the current neurosurgical curriculum in the UK and the Europe-wide EANS/ UEMS Neurosurgical Curriculum.  

Peter is President of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (2022-2024).  He is also Lead for Personal Development and Professionalism at the Peninsula Medical School.  Peter has co-authored many neurosurgical papers, and is lead editor of a textbook: Traumatic Brain Injury: a multidisciplinary approach.  He is also the Neuroanatomy Section editor for Gray’s Surgical Anatomy.  He enjoys all aspects of clinical neurosurgery and is an enthusiastic clinical teacher.