The IDEAL Collaboration grew from a group of research methodologists and surgeons who held a series of meetings about improving surgical innovation research at Balliol College, Oxford during 2007-2008.
Peter is a Professor of Surgical Science and Practice, University of Oxford. As an Upper GI surgeon he pursues a research interest in patient safety in surgery alongside his work on IDEAL.
Peter graduated from Aberdeen University and underwent surgical and academic training in Glasgow, before becoming Senior Lecturer at Liverpool University in 1992, and being appointed in Oxford in 2004.
He developed an interest in Evidence-Based Medicine in the 1990s, and his interest in the difficulty of applying this to surgery led to the Balliol Conferences of 2007-9 where the concept of IDEAL was developed. He founded the IDEAL Collaboration in 2010 and remains the Chair.
IDEAL response to Real-World Data
Integration of IDEAL into UK Commissioning policy
DECIDE-AI
IDEAL Robotics Colloquium
Related publications
DECIDE-AI: new reporting guidelines to bridge the development-to-implementation gap in clinical artificial intelligence (2021), Nature Medicine
The IDEAL Reporting Guidelines: A Delphi Consensus Statement Stage-specific recommendations for reporting the evaluation of surgical innovation. Bilbro NA. et al, (2020), Ann Surg
The IDEAL Framework for Evaluating Surgical Innovation: How It Can Be Used to Improve the Quality of Evidence. Dimick JB. et al, (2019), JAMA Surg
No Surgical Innovation Without Evaluation: Evolution and Further Development of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations. Hirst A. et al, (2019), Ann Surg, 269, 211 – 220
Beyond IDEAL: the importance of surgical innovation metrics – Authors’ reply. McCulloch P. et al, (2019), Lancet, 393
Evolution of the surgical technique of minimally invasive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy: description according to the IDEAL framework-but which IDEAL stage? Hirst A. and McCulloch P., (2018), Dis Esophagus
Appraising the uptake and use of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations: A review of the literature. Khachane A. et al, (2018), Int J Surg, 57, 84 – 90
Evaluation of high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation for uterine fibroids: an IDEAL prospective exploration study. Chen J. et al, (2018), BJOG, 125, 354 – 364
Evidence-Based Evaluation of Practice and Innovation in Physical Therapy Using the IDEAL-Physio Framework. Beard D. et al, (2018), Phys Ther, 98, 108 – 121
Progress in clinical research in surgery and IDEAL. McCulloch P. et al, (2018), Lancet
A protocol for the development of reporting guidelines for IDEAL stage studies. Agha RA. et al, (2018), Int J Surg Protoc, 9, 11 – 14
Hey, I Just Did a Better Operation! Toward an IDEAL Innovation Model. Sood A. et al, (2017), Ann Surg, 266
IDEAL Framework and Recommendations A literature review of its utilization by surgical innovators since 2009. Ashton C. et al, (2017), BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY, 104, 206 – 206
Ideal framework and recommendations: a literature review of its utilization by surgical innovators since 2009. Feinberg J. et al, (2017), TRIALS, 18
IDEAL-D: a rational framework for evaluating and regulating the use of medical devices. Sedrakyan A. et al, (2016), BMJ, 353
Adapting the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations for medical device evaluation: A modified Delphi survey. Pennell CP. et al, (2016), Int J Surg, 28, 141 – 148
A practical guide to the Idea, Development, and Exploration stages of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations. Pennell CP. et al, (2016), Br J Surg, 103, 607 – 615
Clinical integration and evolution of transanal total mesorectal excision: the ideal framework in practice. Penna M. et al, (2015), TRIALS, 16
The IDEAL prospective development study format for reporting surgical innovations. An illustrative case study of robotic oesophagectomy. Diez del Val I. et al, (2015), Int J Surg, 19, 104 – 111
A plan for whole-life-cycle scientific evaluation of surgical innovation: the Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment, Long-term study (IDEAL) recommendations. McCulloch P. et al, (2014), JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, 219, E160 – E160
Application of the IDEAL framework to robotic urologic surgery. Dahm P. et al, (2014), Eur Urol, 65, 849 – 851
[Surgery as a scientific discipline and the IDEAL Collaboration]. McCulloch P., (2014), Cir Esp, 92, 71 – 73
Surgery as a scientific discipline and the IDEAL Collaboration. McCulloch P., (2014), Cirugia Espanola, 92, 71 – 73
Application of the IDEAL framework to robotic urologic surgery. Dahm P. et al, (2014), European Urology, 65, 849 – 851
How can we improve surgical research and innovation?: The IDEAL framework for action Hirst A. et al, (2013), International Journal of Surgery, 11, 1038 – 1042.
IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 1: the idea and development stages. McCulloch P. et al, (2013), BMJ, 346
IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 2: observational studies in the exploration and assessment stages. Ergina PL. et al, (2013), BMJ, 346
IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 3: randomised controlled trials in the assessment stage and evaluations in the long-term study stage. Cook JA. et al, (2013), BMJ, 346
How can we improve surgical research and innovation?: the IDEAL framework for action. Hirst A. et al, (2013), Int J Surg, 11, 1038 – 1042
The IDEAL recommendations and urological innovation. McCulloch P., (2011), World J Urol, 29, 331 – 336
Innovation or regulation: IDEAL opportunity for consensus. McCulloch P. and Schuller F., (2010), Lancet, 376, 1034 – 1036
No surgical innovation without evaluation: the IDEAL recommendations. McCulloch P. et al, (2009), Lancet, 374, 1105 – 1112
Peter is an Upper GI surgeon and pursues a research interest in patient safety in surgery alongside his work on IDEAL.
Peter graduated from Aberdeen University and underwent surgical and academic training in Glasgow, before becoming Senior Lecturer at Liverpool University in 1992, and being appointed in Oxford in 2004.
He developed an interest in Evidence-Based Medicine in the 1990s, and his interest in the difficulty of applying this to surgery led to the Balliol Conferences of 2007-9 where the concept of IDEAL was developed. He founded the IDEAL Collaboration in 2010 and remains the Chair.
Current IDEAL Projects:
IDEAL response to Real-World Data
Integration of IDEAL into UK Commissioning policy
DECIDE-AI
IDEAL Robotics Colloquium
Related publications
DECIDE-AI: new reporting guidelines to bridge the development-to-implementation gap in clinical artificial intelligence (2021), Nature Medicine
The IDEAL Reporting Guidelines: A Delphi Consensus Statement Stage-specific recommendations for reporting the evaluation of surgical innovation. Bilbro NA. et al, (2020), Ann Surg
The IDEAL Framework for Evaluating Surgical Innovation: How It Can Be Used to Improve the Quality of Evidence. Dimick JB. et al, (2019), JAMA Surg
No Surgical Innovation Without Evaluation: Evolution and Further Development of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations. Hirst A. et al, (2019), Ann Surg, 269, 211 – 220
Beyond IDEAL: the importance of surgical innovation metrics – Authors’ reply. McCulloch P. et al, (2019), Lancet, 393
Evolution of the surgical technique of minimally invasive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy: description according to the IDEAL framework-but which IDEAL stage? Hirst A. and McCulloch P., (2018), Dis Esophagus
Appraising the uptake and use of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations: A review of the literature. Khachane A. et al, (2018), Int J Surg, 57, 84 – 90
Evaluation of high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation for uterine fibroids: an IDEAL prospective exploration study. Chen J. et al, (2018), BJOG, 125, 354 – 364
Evidence-Based Evaluation of Practice and Innovation in Physical Therapy Using the IDEAL-Physio Framework. Beard D. et al, (2018), Phys Ther, 98, 108 – 121
Progress in clinical research in surgery and IDEAL. McCulloch P. et al, (2018), Lancet
A protocol for the development of reporting guidelines for IDEAL stage studies. Agha RA. et al, (2018), Int J Surg Protoc, 9, 11 – 14
Hey, I Just Did a Better Operation! Toward an IDEAL Innovation Model. Sood A. et al, (2017), Ann Surg, 266
IDEAL Framework and Recommendations A literature review of its utilization by surgical innovators since 2009. Ashton C. et al, (2017), BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY, 104, 206 – 206
Ideal framework and recommendations: a literature review of its utilization by surgical innovators since 2009. Feinberg J. et al, (2017), TRIALS, 18
IDEAL-D: a rational framework for evaluating and regulating the use of medical devices. Sedrakyan A. et al, (2016), BMJ, 353
Adapting the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations for medical device evaluation: A modified Delphi survey. Pennell CP. et al, (2016), Int J Surg, 28, 141 – 148
A practical guide to the Idea, Development, and Exploration stages of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations. Pennell CP. et al, (2016), Br J Surg, 103, 607 – 615
Clinical integration and evolution of transanal total mesorectal excision: the ideal framework in practice. Penna M. et al, (2015), TRIALS, 16
The IDEAL prospective development study format for reporting surgical innovations. An illustrative case study of robotic oesophagectomy. Diez del Val I. et al, (2015), Int J Surg, 19, 104 – 111
A plan for whole-life-cycle scientific evaluation of surgical innovation: the Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment, Long-term study (IDEAL) recommendations. McCulloch P. et al, (2014), JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, 219, E160 – E160
Application of the IDEAL framework to robotic urologic surgery. Dahm P. et al, (2014), Eur Urol, 65, 849 – 851
[Surgery as a scientific discipline and the IDEAL Collaboration]. McCulloch P., (2014), Cir Esp, 92, 71 – 73
Surgery as a scientific discipline and the IDEAL Collaboration. McCulloch P., (2014), Cirugia Espanola, 92, 71 – 73
Application of the IDEAL framework to robotic urologic surgery. Dahm P. et al, (2014), European Urology, 65, 849 – 851
How can we improve surgical research and innovation?: The IDEAL framework for action Hirst A. et al, (2013), International Journal of Surgery, 11, 1038 – 1042.
IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 1: the idea and development stages. McCulloch P. et al, (2013), BMJ, 346
IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 2: observational studies in the exploration and assessment stages. Ergina PL. et al, (2013), BMJ, 346
IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 3: randomised controlled trials in the assessment stage and evaluations in the long-term study stage. Cook JA. et al, (2013), BMJ, 346
How can we improve surgical research and innovation?: the IDEAL framework for action. Hirst A. et al, (2013), Int J Surg, 11, 1038 – 1042
The IDEAL recommendations and urological innovation. McCulloch P., (2011), World J Urol, 29, 331 – 336
Innovation or regulation: IDEAL opportunity for consensus. McCulloch P. and Schuller F., (2010), Lancet, 376, 1034 – 1036
No surgical innovation without evaluation: the IDEAL recommendations. McCulloch P. et al, (2009), Lancet, 374, 1105 – 1112
Hani Marcus is Professor of Neurosurgery at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. His academic work focuses on the development and evaluation of new technologies, particularly robotics and artificial intelligence, and on improving the processes by which surgical innovations are translated into clinical practice.
He was recently elected Interim Chair of the IDEAL Collaboration, following the resignation of Professor Peter McCulloch, and has led several IDEAL initiatives, including Stage 0, and IDEAL Robotics.
Visit Hani’s UCL profile page
Related publications
The IDEAL framework in neurosurgery: a bibliometric analysis
IDEAL-D Framework for Device Innovation: A Consensus Statement on the Preclinical Stage.
Joshua A. Feinberg M.D., F.A.C.S is an attending breast surgical oncologist and the Director of Clinical Research in the Division of Breast Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Feinberg completed a one-year research fellowship in Evidenced-Based Practice and Patient Safety under the mentorship of Professor Peter McCulloch at Oxford University. Drawing upon his surgical innovation work with the IDEAL Collaboration, Dr. Feinberg is currently the primary investigator on several multi-center clinical trials, evaluating surgical devices and technologies in the field of breast surgical oncology.
“Standardizing Outcome Reporting and Technique Variations in Nipple-Areolar Complex Neurotization After Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy.” Current literature on NAC neurotization is at IDEAL framework stage 2A, limited to small cohort studies with heterogeneous techniques and outcome measures. This is a prospective registry database to capture both technical variations and outcomes of NAC neurotization performed during NSM.
McCulloch P., Feinberg, J., Beyond IDEAL: the importance of surgical innovation metrics – Author’s reply. Lancet. Volume 393, Issue 10169, p16, January 26, 2019
McCulloch P., Feinberg, J. Progress in clinical research in surgery and IDEAL. Lancet. Volume 392, Issue 10141, p88-94, July 07, 2018.
Hirst A., Philippou Y., Blazeby J., Campbell B., Campbell M., Feinberg J., et al. No surgical innovation without evaluation: Evolution and further development of the IDEAL framework and recommendations. Annals of Surgery, p1-10. April 24, 2018.
Dr. Pedro T. Ramirez is a Professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, USA.
He is the David M. Gershenson Distinguished Professor in Ovarian Cancer Research and Director of Minimally Invasive Surgical Research & Education. He is also the Chair of the Gynecologic Oncology Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Program.
In addition, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. He is also the Chair of the Global Gynecologic Oncology Consortium (G-GOC) for the Gynecologic Oncology Intergroup (GCIG). The G-GOC is a collaborative consortium that conducts multi-institutional prospective trials with other sites worldwide.
Dr. Ramirez is also the Principal Investigator of the LACC Trial, a prospective randomized trial evaluating the role of minimally invasive surgery in patients with early-stage cervical cancer undergoing radical hysterectomy. The manuscript for oncologic outcomes for this study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, subsequent secondary analysis of the LACC Trial evaluating adverse events and quality of life in patients undergoing minimally invasive vs. open radical hysterectomy have been recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Lancet Oncology.
Dr. Ramirez has also written a textbook titled Principles of Gynecologic Oncology Surgery. This textbook addresses strategies of preoperative evaluation of patients undergoing gynecologic surgery, techniques and details of such procedures, and prevention and management of postoperative complications. He has also published a total of 262 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 19 book chapters. He also serves as Reviewer for 31 peer-reviewed journals. He is the recipient of multiple distinguished awards including the David M. Gershenson, MD Distinguished Professorship for Ovarian Cancer Research Endowment and, in addition, he received the 2018 Jack and Beverly Randall Prize for Excellence in Cancer Treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
He is currently working on developing the North America IDEAL Network and is also part of the IDEAL Robotic Surgery Colloquium.
Dr Paez is a Research Fellow at Concordia University and Senior Lecturer at Northeastern University. He is an IDEAL Council member and a clinical trials methodologist with a particular interest in study design and clinical trials methods in complex interventions. His DPhil research at Oxford in intervention fidelity in clinical trials was greatly inspired by the IDEAL framework.
Arsenio’s clinical background is in CNV genetic, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. He is particularly interested in how IDEAL can be applied to trials that combine surgery, medical devices and biologics, such as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) in regenerative medicine and rehabilitation trials. He is also keenly interested in applying IDEAL to sleep medicine and behavioural neuroscience clinical trials.
Arsenio lead the working group considering when RCTs are, or are not, appropriate for implantable medical devices, and what other study designs or forms of evidence are appropriate instead.
He also lead a real world data working group, and is one of IDEAL’s clinical specialty leads. As a development lead at IDEAL, he is excited to support the development of a North American IDEAL centre and foster greater collaboration between IDEAL centres in the UK, Europe, and Asia.
Arsenio also co-leads a multi-centre working group working to adapt the IDEAL framework to accommodate surgical regenerative medicine trials.
Paez A, Rovers M, Hutchinson K, Rogers W, Vasey B, McCulloch P. Beyond the RCT: When are randomised trials unnecessary for new implantable therapeutic devices, and what should we do instead? Under review, Annals of Surgery.
Bilbro NA*, Hirst A*, Paez A*, Vasey B, Pufulete M, Sedrakyan A, McCulloch P; IDEAL Collaboration Reporting Guidelines Working Group. The IDEAL Reporting Guidelines: A Delphi Consensus Statement Stage Specific Recommendations for Reporting the Evaluation of Surgical Innovation. Ann Surg. 2021 Jan 1;273(1):82-85. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004180. PMID: 32649459. *Co-first authors
Yu J, Hirst A, Yang Z, Zhang Y, Paez A, et al. The methodological quality of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of surgical randomized controlled trials: A cross-sectional survey. Under review, British Journal of Surgery.
Beard D, Hamilton D, Davies L, Cook J, Hirst A, McCulloch P, Paez A. Evidence-based evaluation of practice and innovation in Physical Therapy using the IDEAL-Physio framework. Phys Ther.2018; Feb 98(2), 108-121.
Prof. Dr. Maroeska Rovers is the Scientific Director of the Technical Medical Centre (TechMed) at the University of Twente and a Professor at Radboudumc, where she specializes in medical technology and innovation.
Within the IDEAL collaboration, I am acting as one of the two research leads (together with Jane Blazeby). As a research lead, I aim to connect the collaboration to a greater world, for example by sharing the knowledge and experience of the collaboration with my colleagues in the Netherlands, and by organizing the next IDEAL conference.
Furthermore, both my research group as our institute aims to follow the IDEAL framework when evaluating surgical innovations. I am one of the founders of the Medical Innovation & Technology expert center, which is unique in Europe because of the combination of technology development and the determination of clinical relevance by means of evidence-based surgery, i.e. adapting the IDEAL stages of research. This setting has created a unique scientific infrastructure allowing highly stimulating and innovative collaborative science, which has also been acknowledged as center of excellence by international industrial and academic partners.
I have been awarded a prestigious personal VICI grant entitled “SURGE – Towards early evaluation of surgical innovations using an integrated approach”. In this project, our team aims to further develop scientific methods that enable the evaluation of surgical innovations as from a very early phase, which we like to incorporate or add to the IDEAL framework.
Within our Medical Innovation & Technology expert center we are currently studying several surgical innovations according to the IDEAL framework, i.e. from stage 0 to stage 4.
Grutters JPC, Govers T, Nijboer J, Tummers M, van der Wilt GJ, Rovers MM. Problems and Promises of Health Technologies: The Role of Early Health Economic Modeling. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2019 Oct 1;8(10):575-582.
Hirst A, Philippou Y, Blazeby J, Campbell B, Campbell M, Feinberg J, Rovers M, Blencowe N, Pennell C, Quinn T, Rogers W, Cook J, Kolias AG, Agha R, Dahm P, Sedrakyan A, McCulloch P. No Surgical Innovation Without Evaluation: Evolution and Further Development of the IDEAL Framework and Recommendations. Ann Surg 2019 Feb;269(2):211-220.
Mirre Scholte, Maroeska M. Rovers, Janneke P.C. Grutters. The Use of Decision Analytic Modeling in the Evaluation of Surgical Innovations: A Scoping Review. Value in health 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2020.11.020
Dr Daisy Elliott is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on applying qualitative methods to improve the design and conduct of health services research, spanning the full translational pathway. She works closely with surgical innovators to integrate nested qualitative methodologies that support the safe and ethical introduction of novel procedures into practice. Daisy is Workstream Co‑Lead for Innovative Translational Research Methods within the NIHR Bristol BRC Surgical and Orthopaedic Innovation theme, Academic Lead for the NIHR Surgery and Perioperative Care Translational Research Collaboration (SPOC TRC) in Bristol, and Methodological Co‑Lead for the IDEAL Collaboration. Research interests include recruitment and informed consent, AI, and improving the safety and outcomes of surgery.
• Elliott D, Blencowe NS, Cousins S, Zahra J, Skilton A, Mathews J, Paramasivan S, Hoffmann C, McNair AG, Ochieng C, Richards H. Using qualitative research methods to understand how surgical procedures and devices are introduced into NHS hospitals: the Lotus study protocol. BMJ open. 2021 Dec.
• Elliott D, Ochieng CA, Zahra J, McNair AG, Main BG, Skilton A, Blencowe NS, Cousins S, Paramasivan S, Hoffmann C, Donovan JL. What are patients told about innovative surgical procedures? A qualitative synthesis of 7 case studies in the United Kingdom. Annals of Surgery. 2023 Sep 1;278(3):e482-90.
• Elliott D, Smith JR, Coyle M, Macefield R, Vali S, King A, Blencowe N, Ochieng C, Hoffmann C, Quiroga I, Jones BP, L’Heveder A, Avery KNL & Blazeby JM. Experiences of women and clinicians during the introduction of uterine transplantation to the UK: A qualitative case study. In press, International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology1;11(12):e049234.
• Hoffmann C, Elliott D, Rooshenas L, Ochieng C, Main B, Wheatstone P, Lawday S, Vallance A, Blazeby JM, McNair AGK; wider study team. Information standards for innovative surgery: what patients need to know. Br J Surg. 2025 Jul 3;112(7):znaf140. doi: 10.1093/bjs/znaf140. PMID: 40626615; PMCID: PMC12235506
• Ochieng C, Zahra J, Elliott D, Richards H, Wilson N, Paramasivan S, Avery KNL, Mathews J, Main BG, Blencowe NS, Blazeby JM. A review of guidance on information provision and consent for the introduction of innovative invasive procedures within NHS policies. BMJ Open 2022;12:e059228. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059228
• Cousins S, et al. Healthcare organization policy recommendations for the governance of surgical innovation: review of NHS policies. British Journal of Surgery, Volume 109, Issue 10, October 2022, Pages 1004–1012, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjs/znac223
I am assistant professor at Radboudumc specialising in early health technology assessment (HTA) of medical devices and surgical innovations. I completed my PhD at Radboudumc with the thesis Exploring the Value of Innovations: Methods for Early Health Economic Evaluation in Surgical Innovation. After my PhD, I did a postdoc at Maastricht UMC+, further strengthening my expertise in economic evaluation and decision-analytic modelling. I also served as External Assessment Group Lead for NICE in the UK, where I led independent assessments of pharmacoeconomic submissions and advised national appraisal committees on health economic evidence.
Marcus HJ, Ramirez PT, Khan DZ, Layard Horsfall H, Hanrahan JG, Williams SC, Beard DJ, Bhat R, Catchpole K, Cook A, Hutchison K, Martin J, Melvin T, Stoyanov D, Rovers M, Raison N, Dasgupta P, Noonan D, Stocken D, Sturt G, Vanhoestenberghe A, Vasey B, McCulloch P; IDEAL Robotics Colloquium. The IDEAL framework for surgical robotics: development, comparative evaluation and long-term monitoring. Nat Med. 2024
B.R. Klarenbeek, H. Fujiwara , M. Scholte, M.M. Rovers, A. Shiozaki, C. Introduction of Minimally Invasive transCervical oEsophagectomy (MICE) according to the IDEAL framework. Br J Surg. 2023 Aug 11;110(9):1096-1099
M. Scholte, K. Woudstra, J.P.C. Grutters, G. Hannink, M. Tummers, R.P.B. Reuzel, M.M. Rovers. Towards early and broad evaluation of innovative surgical devices: integrating evidence synthesis, stakeholder involvement and health economic modelling into the clinical research stages of the IDEAL framework. BMJ Surg Interv Health Technol. 2022 July 20;4:e000153.
J. Heidkamp, M. Scholte, C. Rosman, S. Manohar, J.J. Fütterer, M.M. Rovers. Novel imaging techniques for intraoperative margin assessment in surgical oncology: A systematic review. Int J Cancer. 2021 Aug 1;149(3):635-645.
M. Scholte, M.M. Rovers, J.P.C. Grutters. The use of decision analytic modelling in the evaluation of surgical innovations: a scoping review. Value Health. 2021 Jun;24(6):884-900.
Ollie is an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurosurgery, an early-stage neursurgical academic trainee, working on understanding the barriers and enablers to recruitment in neurosurgical clinical trials, such that obstacles can be overcome to help development of new therapies and treatments. He is a mixed-methods researcher and recently completed a fellowship with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management.
Neurosurgery Resident, Royal London Hospital, UCL Hawkes Institute (TeQ Group). I am an ST2 neurosurgery trainee in the London Deanery with a strong academic focus on surgical innovation, neurotechnology, and translational neuroscience. My research centres on intraoperative human neurophysiology and the development and evaluation of novel surgical technologies, including brain–computer interfaces and advanced neuromonitoring platforms. I am actively involved in collaborative projects across UCL, the Francis Crick Institute, and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, including first-in-human Neuropixels recordings. I have experience designing and delivering prospective clinical studies, applying IDEAL principles to ensure methodological rigour in early-stage surgical innovation. Alongside my clinical training, I contribute to national trainee initiatives as Treasurer of the British Neurosurgical Trainees’ Association and help coordinate multidisciplinary collaborations in surgical technology through the TeQ Group. My career goal is to become an academic consultant neurosurgeon specialising in functional neurosurgery and neurotechnology.
Mr James Booker is a neurosurgery registrar at the Royal London hospital and a honorary senior research fellow in the TEQ group at UCL. He is the clinical research lead at the busiest neurotrauma centre in Europe and associate PI on two multi centre trials.
After medical school James did the academic foundation programme in neurosurgery followed by a prestigious Wellcome funded neurosurgery research fellowship at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. For the past three years he has been a neurosurgery trainee in the north London rotation.
Neurosurgery Resident, London Deanery. I am a neurosurgery resident based in the London Deanery. I graduated with Distinction from the University of Manchester (MBChB, 2020) and hold an MRes from Imperial College London and a BSc in Microbiology from the University of
Leeds. I completed Academic Foundation Training at King’s College Hospital and subsequently undertook a Clinical Research Fellowship at Queen Square under the supervision of Professor Hani Marcus, developing research experience in skull base surgery and intraoperative technologies. I have an extensive publication record in neuro-oncology, skull base, spinal surgery, and surgical data science, with multiple international presentations and national podium talks.
Sinha S, Williams SC, Hanrahan JG, Muirhead WR, Booker J, Khalil S, Kitchen N, Newall N, Obholzer R, Saeed SR, Marcus HJ, Grover P. Mapping the Clinical Pathway for Patients Undergoing Vestibular Schwannoma Resection. World Neurosurg. 2024 Oct;190:e459-e467. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2024.07.157. Epub 2024 Jul 27.
Sinha S, Kalyal N, Gallagher MJ, Richardson D, Kalaitzoglou D, Abougamil A, Silva M, Oviedova A, Patel S, Mirallave-Pescador A, Bleil C, Zebian B, Gullan R, Ashkan K, Vergani F, Bhangoo R, Pedro Lavrador J. Impact of Preoperative Mapping and Intraoperative Neuromonitoring in Minimally Invasive Parafascicular Surgery for Deep-Seated Lesions. World Neurosurg. 2024 Jan;181:e1019-e1037.
Sinha S, Avnon A, Perera A, Lavrador JP, Ashkan K. Butterfly gliomas: a time for stratified management? Neurosurg Rev. 2023 Sep 4;46(1):223.
Sinha S, George KJ. “The fate of nonoperative management in patients with lytic spondylolisthesis”. J Neurol Surg A Cent Eur Neurosurg. 2022 Jan 21.
Sinha S, Toe KKZ, Wood E, George KJ. “The impact of COVID-19 on neurosurgical head trauma referrals and admission at a tertiary neurosurgical centre.” J Clin Neurosci. 2021;87:50-54.
Lee CA, Sinha S, Fitzpatrick E and Dhawan A. “Hepatocyte transplantation and advancements in alternative cell sources for liver-based regenerative medicine.” J Mol Med (Berl). 2018 Jun;96(6): 469-481. (Joint Lead Author).
de los Reyes-Nabhan NK, Sinha, S, Noorani, I. “Comparing Utility of Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging and 5-Aminolevulinic Acid in High-Grade Glioma Resection Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Neurosurgery Practice. 2025 Sept; 6(3):e000146.
Booker J, Penn J, Fersht N, Hanrahan JG, Kosmin M, Newall N, Sinha S, Williams SC, Thorne L, Hill CS, Marcus HJ. Mapping patient encounters to identify recruitment timepoints after brain tumour surgery: a cohort and cross-sectional study. BMJ Open Qual. 2025 May 14;14(2):e003065. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003065.
Williams SC, Duvaux D, Das A, Sinha S, Layard Horsfall H, Funnell JP, Hanrahan JG, Khan DZ, Muirhead W, Kitchen N, Vasconcelos F, Bano S, Stoyanov D, Grover P, Marcus HJ. Automated Operative Phase and Step Recognition in Vestibular Schwannoma Surgery: Development and Preclinical Evaluation of a Deep Learning Neural Network (IDEAL Stage 0). Neurosurgery. 2025 Apr 30. doi: 10.1227/neu.0000000000003466. Epub ahead of print.
Booker J, Penn J, Noor K, Dobson RJB, Fersht N, Funnell JP, Hill CS, Khan DZ, Newall N, Searle T, Sinha S, Thorne L, Williams SC, Kosmin M, Marcus HJ. Utilising Natural Language Processing to Identify Brain Tumor Patients for Clinical Trials: Development and Initial Evaluation. World Neurosurg. 2025 May;197:123907. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2025.123907. Epub 2025 Mar 18.
Awan M, Elshalakany A, Kalaitzoglou D, Kalyal N, Sinha S, Perera A, Wroe Wright O, Gallagher MJ, Richardson D, Elhag A, Marchi F, Abougamil A, Silva M, Oviedova A, Patel S, Mirallave-Pescador A, Diaz-Baamonde A, Bleil C, Zebian B, Gullan R, Ashkan K, Vergani F, Bhangoo R, Lavrador JP. Diffusion changes in minimally invasive parafascicular approach for deep-seated tumours: impact on clinical outcomes. Neurosurg Rev. 2025 Jan 18;48(1):63. doi: 10.1007/s10143-024-03160-y.
Williams S, Noor K, Sinha S, Dobson RJB, Funnell JP, Hanrahan JG, Muirhead W,Kitchen N, Kanona H, Khalil S, Saeed S, Marcus HJ and Grover P. Concept Recognition and Characterization of Patients Undergoing Resection of Vestibular Schwannoma Using Natural Language Processing. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. Published online 2023. doi:10.1055/S-0044-1786738/ID/JR23NOV0176-30/BIB
Booker J, Penn J, Newall N, Rowland D, Sinha S, Marcus HJ. Development and early Evaluation of a novel tool for assessment of individualised risk tolerance during surgical consent. Br J Neurosurg. 2024 Oct 17:1-6. doi: 10.1080/02688697.2024.2413453. Epub ahead of print.
Booker J, Penn J, Noor K, Dobson RJB, Funnell JP, Koh CH, Khan DZ, Newall N, Rowland D, Sinha S, Williams SC, Sayal P, Marcus HJ. Early evaluation of a natural language processing tool to improve access to educational resources for surgical patients. Eur Spine J. 2024 Jul;33(7):2545-2552. doi: 10.1007/s00586-024-08315-5. Epub 2024 May 30.
Booker J, Penn J, Koh CH, Newall N, Rowland D, Sinha S, Hanrahan JG, Williams SC, Sayal P, Marcus HJ. Mapping patient education encounters in elective surgery: a cohort study and cross-sectional survey. BMJ Open Qual. 2024 May 27;13(2):e002810. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2024-002810.
Lee C, Dhawan A, Iansante V, Filippi C, Mitry R, Tang J, Walker S, Fernandez DaCosta R, Sinha S, Hughes RD, Koulmanda M and Fitzpatrick E. “Improving engraftment of hepatocyte transplantation using alpha-1 antitrypsin as an immune modulator.” J Mol Med (Berl). 2019 Apr;97(4):563-577.
Starup-Hansen J, Newall N, Dimitrakakis E, Khan DZ, Dwyer G, Iyengar K, Psychogyios D, Hanrahan JG, Sinha S, James Booker J, Stoyanov D, Marcus HJ. A Handheld Robot for Endoscopic Endonasal Skull Base Surgery: Updated Preclinical Validation Study (IDEAL Stage 0). J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. Published online 2023. doi:10.1055/A-2297-3647/ID/JR23OCT0168-27/BIB
Newall N, Khan DZ, Hanrahan JG, Booker J, Borg A, Davids J, Nicolosi F, Sinha S, Dorward N, Marcus HJ. High fidelity simulation of the endoscopic transsphenoidal approach: Validation of the UpSurgeOn TNS Box. Front Surg. 2022 Dec 6;9:1049685. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2022.1049685.
Gilani S, Pankhania K, Aruketty M, Naeem F, Alkhayyat A, Akhtar U, Chaudhary M, Sinha S. “Twelve tips to organise a mock OSCE.” Med Teach. 2021” Mar 3:1-20
Baig Mirza A, Bartram J, Sinha S, Gebreyohanes A, Boardman T, Vastani A, Dyson E, Lavrador JP, Russo V, Choi D, Vasan AK, Grahovac G. “Surgical management and outcomes in spinal intradural arachnoid cysts: the experience from two tertiary neurosurgical centres.” Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2021 Oct 27. doi: 10.1007/s00701-021-05027-3. Epub ahead of print.
Wilkinson T, Sinha S, Peek N, Geifman N. “Clinical trial data reuse – overcoming complexities in trial design and data sharing.” Trials. 2019 Aug 19;20(1):513.
Book chapter
Sinha S, Booker J, Newall N, Nicolosi F and Marcus HJ, Future of The Future of Neurosurgery, Ethical Challenges for the Future of Neurosurgery. Published online 2024:343-361.
Case Reports
Sinha S, Iyer V, George KJ. “Foramen magnum osteochondroma causing myelopathy in a patient with hereditary multiple exostoses. Surg Neurol Int. 2020 Sep;11:296.
Sinha S, George KJ. “Spinal cord herniation following multilevel anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: A case report and literature review” Surg Neurol Int. 2020 Oct;11:327
Neurosurgery Resident and PhD Candidate. Simon Williams is a neurosurgery resident and PhD candidate based in London. His research interests focus on that application of data science, computer vision, and artificial intelligence to lateral skull base neurosurgery. Simon has an interest in the evaluation of novel surgical technologies, and currently leads the IDEAL Advisory Service. His work has informed international surgical guidelines on the evaluation of AI in robotics and has contributed to advancements in the analysis of operative video data.
“The IDEAL framework for surgical robotics: development, comparative evaluation and long-term monitoring
HJ Marcus, PT Ramirez, DZ Khan, H Layard Horsfall, JG Hanrahan, …Nature medicine 30 (1), 61-75
Intraoperative applications of artificial intelligence in robotic surgery: a scoping review of current development stages and levels of autonomy
B Vasey, KAN Lippert, DZ Khan, M Ibrahim, CH Koh, HL Horsfall, KS Lee, …Annals of Surgery 278 (6), 896-903″
Mr Bolton is an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Neurosurgery at the University of Leeds and Leeds Centre for Neurosciences, UK, where he combines neurosurgical training with an academic programme focused on restorative neurosurgery, neurotechnology, and surgical innovation. He is a neurosurgeon-scientist and translational to applied health researcher whose work centres on developing and evaluating technologies and interventions that improve recovery after brain and spinal cord injury, with a particular interest in modulating neuroplasticity in the acute perioperative period. His research spans neurotechnology, imaging, artificial intelligence, immersive and spatial computing, and novel approaches to the evaluation of complex surgical interventions.
He completed his PhD in Global Surgical Innovation and Technologies, where he investigated how frugal innovation methodologies can be used to develop and evaluate surgical technologies for low-resource settings. This work led to the IDEAL Global Framework and contributed to the establishment of IDEAL Global, an initiative of the IDEAL Collaboration that seeks to improve the safe, effective, and equitable development of surgical innovation in low-resource contexts. He continues to lead and support international research collaborations with a focus on surgical innovation, training, evaluation methodology, and global surgical health.
