Biography

I studied for a BA (Hons) in Physiology between 1997 and 2000 as part of the 1st BM at Keble College, Oxford. I transferred to Leeds from 2000 to 2003 to undertake a PhD with Professor Eberhard Buhl and Professor Miles Whittington. The subject of the PhD was the physiology of neuronal network oscillations in rodent hippocampus. I returned to Oxford to complete the 2nd BM from 2003 to 2006, attaining a BM BCh.  I completed house jobs in the Oxford Deanery being appointed Specialty Registrar in Neurosurgery in Oxford in 2008. I successfully completed membership exams in 2009 (MRCS). I was appointed NIHR-funded Academic Clinical Lecturer in 2014, working with Professors Tipu Aziz and Alex Green. I transferred to Neuropathology in 2016. I was appointed Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer in November 2020, working with the Oxford Functional Neurosurgery Group.

My current role is as a research assessor in a trial of deep brain stimulation for chronic post stroke pain. This is an assessor-blinded randomised controlled trial. This trial has the aim of generating high quality evidence for the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in neuropathic pain, and using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to improve surgical practice for neuropathic pain. This trial is being generously funded by the Jon Moulton Charity Trust.

My main research interest is the electrophysiology of the human brain, supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences. Functional neurosurgery offers unique access to the human brain in that local field potentials can be recorded from structures deep in the brain whilst patients perform tasks. These recordings complement scalp electroencephalography in that they offer greater spatial resolution, and fMRI in that they offer greater temporal resolution. These local field potentials can be studied in relation to cognition and autonomic functions amongst others.

I also have an interest in high intensity focused ultrasound, working with the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) group headed by Professor David Cranston, and the use of living human brain tissue for in vitro experimentation, a collaboration involving neurosurgeons and biomedical academics in the university.

Funding

My post is generously funded by the Jon Moulton Charity Trust and NIHR BRC Oxford.