Dr. Stuart Robinson

About

I am a surgeon trained in the North of Scotland and North East of England who returned to the Newcastle Fibrosis Research Group in October 2014 to pursue an academic career in HPB surgery, I previously worked in the Fibrosis Lab as a Clinical Research Associate from 2009-2012

The early part of my higher surgical training was spent focusing predominantly on elective and emergency general abdominal surgery. I received a significant proportion of this training in James Cook University Hospital which as a major regional unit has a busy and demanding acute surgical take including exposure to both blunt and penetrating trauma. During this period I gained competence in the initial management and resuscitation of patients presenting acute abdominal problems and undertook many of the key procedures required for the management of this group of patients as primary surgeon for example large and small bowel resection with primary anastamosis, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, duodenal perforation, hartmanns procedure etc.

In addition to my general surgical training I spent two years of my HST within the HPB unit at the Freeman Hospital. In addition during the 3 years of my research training I have worked as an honorary SpR within the unit. During this time I gained experience in the multi-disciplinary management and investigation of patients with benign and malignant disease of the liver, pancreas and biliary tract. I was also exposed to a wide variety of surgical procedures such as complex liver resection, pancreatic resection, surgery for chronic pancreatitis etc.

My interest in research was inspired during the early part of my post-graduate career whilst working for several academic surgeons on small scale clinical research projects. During this period my clinical interests became firmly focused on HPB surgery and liver transplantation which led me to pursue my initial period of full time research training within the Newcastle Fibrosis Lab. Funded initially by a Spire Healthcare Research Fellowship and latterly by a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship, I was able to focus my research on gaining a better understanding of the pathogenesis of chemotherapy associated liver injury, something which is a cause for much concern in the management of patients with colorectal liver metastases.

During my time in the Fibrosis Lab I became proficient in an array of laboratory techniques and an essential element of my research was the development of a murine model of Oxaliplatin induced sinusoidal obstruction syndrome. This is the first such model of this disease and is something which other world class groups have failed to establish.

Given the novel nature of my research the necessary expertise to progress has not always been immediately available from my colleagues. This has led me to develop collaborations with experts in the fields of histopathology (Professor Alastair Burt), haematology (Dr Patrick Kesteven), anaesthesia (Dr Ahmed Chisti) and hepatology (Dr Quentin Anstee). With the help of these collaborators I have been able to develop strategies to validate some of the findings from my experimental work in patients with colorectal liver metastases.

Education

• PhD - University of Newcastle upon Tyne (2012).
• MBChB with Commendation - University of Aberdeen Medical School (2003).

Memberships & Registrations

• Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2006).
• Full GMC Registration (2003).

Funding

• Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship (2 Years) £175,495

Awards & Prizes

• AUGIS BJS Prize (for best original research presentation), Digestive Disorders Federation, Liverpool, UK - 19 June 2012.
• Ella Foster Memorial Award (for best original research presentation), Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust - 18 February 2011.