Mr Thomas Santarius obtained his Medical Doctor degree from the Universita Palackeho in Olomouc, Czech Republic, with multiple prizes and scholarships. As a student he was actively involved in the Velvet Revolution, which eventually ended the communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia in 1989. Following graduation he spent over two years as a clinical and research fellow at the Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University in Boston, USA before moving to the UK in 1997. Mr Santarius completed neurosurgical training at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where in 2012 he was appointed a consultant. Apart from Cambridge he underwent additional neurosurgical training at the Atkinson’s Morley Hospital, St George’s University in London, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, University of California at San Francisco Medical Center and Montpellier in France.

Mr Santarius’ current practice focuses mainly on brain tumour surgery in both adult and paediatric patients, including complex techniques for extrinsic and intrinsic supratentorial and posterior fossa tumours. He performs endoscopic pituitary surgery in partnership with his ENT colleagues. He is a great believer in perfection and this is reflected in his meticulous operative techniques with extreme attention to details in each step of surgery. He is actively involved in teaching and training and serves as faculty and invited speaker on many training courses in the UK and overseas. He is one of the pioneers in the development of 3D recording of surgical procedures in neurosurgery for educational purposes. He is co-founder and organiser of the Cambridge Lectures in Neurosurgical Anatomy.

Mr Santarius has an extensive experience with basic neuroscience and genetic research. He trained and conducted basic science research at Harvard University and at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge following which he was awarded the PhD degree from the University of Cambridge in 2009. His publications relate to basic science of cancer and neurosurgery, including a landmark paper in the management of chronic subdural haematomas for which he was the main investigator and author. He serves as a reviewer for a number of scientific journals and a member of the Editorial Board of Acta Neurochirurgica. He is a member of the Neurosurgical Anatomy Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS).

Written by Ramez Kirollos