Roger Kirby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 1950 (age 74) Buckinghamshire, England |
| Education | St John's College, Cambridge (BA,MB BChir) |
| Known for | Robotic prostate surgery Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases (founding editor) Trends in Urology and Men's Health (founding editor) The Urology Foundation President of theRoyal Society of Medicine (2020–2024) |
| Spouse | Jane Cooper |
| Children | 3, includingVanessa andJoe |
| Awards | Hunterian Professorship (1986) St Peter's Medal (2005) Clement Price Thomas Award (2016) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Urology |
| Institutions | Middlesex Hospital Cheltenham General Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital St George's Hospital King Edward VII's Hospital Royal Society of Medicine |
| Thesis | "Urethro-vesical Dysfunction in Autonomic Neuropathy" (1986) |
Roger Sinclair KirbyFRCS(Urol),FEBU (born November 1950) is a British retired prostate surgeon and professor ofurology. He is prominent as a writer onmen's health andprostate disease, the founding editor of the journalProstate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases andTrends in Urology and Men's Health and a fundraiser for prostate disease charities, best known for his use of theda Vinci surgical robot forlaparoscopic prostatectomy in the treatment ofprostate cancer. He is a co-founder and president of the charityThe Urology Foundation (TUF), vice-president of the charity Prostate Cancer UK, trustee of theKing Edward VII's Hospital, and from 2020 to 2024 was president of theRoyal Society of Medicine (RSM), London.
Following his medical education and training atSt John's College, Cambridge, andMiddlesex Hospital, London, and with a distinction in surgery, Kirby took various surgical posts across England. In 1979 he gained fellowship of theRoyal College of Surgeons of England. His early research involved looking athow nerves work to control themuscles used to control passing urine, findings of which disproved the then held belief thatretention of urine in some women was psychological, and work that contributed to gaining hisMD in 1986. In the same year, he was both elected Hunterian professor with his lecture titled "The Investigation and Management of the Neurogenic Bladder", and appointed consultant urologist atSt Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He later took over fromJohn Wickham and subsequently became one of the first urologists in the UK to perform openradical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancers. In 1995, he became a professor of urology and Director of Postgraduate Education atSt George's Hospital, London, and in 2005 he established The Prostate Centre inWimpole Street, London, with the purpose of offering minimally invasive laparoscopic prostatectomy with a more holistic approach, advising on a wide range ofmen's health, including diet and exercise.
An advocate of monitoring one's own personalPSA level and having spent his surgical career researching and treating prostate cancer, he was diagnosed and treated forprostate cancer himself in 2012, and featured in the 2013 "Tale of Four Prostates", where he was one of four surgeons who freely discussed the diagnosis, treatment and its implications, with the aim of dispelling its surrounding taboos.
Roger Kirby was born inBuckinghamshire to Janet Hazel Sturgess, born inAston,Warwickshire, and Kenneth Stanley Kirby, born inWhitby,Yorkshire. His father was a professor ofbiochemistry and fellow of theRoyal Society who worked as head of cell chemistry at what was then called theChester Beatty Research Institute. He died in 1967 at the age of 49, when Kirby was 15.[1][2][3][4] He attendedBerkhamsted School for Boys with his older and younger brother, where the three also played on the school's rugby team.[1][5]
Kirby graduated in medical sciences fromSt John's College, Cambridge, in 1972 and completed his clinical training at theMiddlesex Hospital (later merged withUniversity College), where he was inspired by lead urologistRichard Turner-Warwick. He gained hisMB BChir from Cambridge in 1975, with a distinction in surgery, the decisive turning point that led him towards surgery rather than cardiology.[3][5][6][7]
Kirby's firsthouse job was at theCheltenham General Hospital, where he worked with surgeonPeter Boreham, who encouraged him to pursue the field of urology and particularly prostate disease.[8] Subsequently, he took up posts atBrighton,Wolverhampton, andGloucester.[3][5][9] His other teachers have included Ken Shuttleworth andWyndam Lloyd Davies.[8] He passed in the finalFellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in 1979.[5][10] Kirby later described how a number of people in the 1970s had not heard of the prostate gland. During this time, he had attended to a number of people withlarge prostates thatblocked urine flow and a number of people withinflammation of the prostate, which caused pain. When he did see someone with prostate cancer, only two basic surgical options were available on offer: removing the testicles or an operation that removed the middle of the prostate, the latter being performed to improve the flow of urine.[11]
In 1985, Kirby spent five weeks at theDuke University Medical Center,North Carolina, USA, on a Royal College of Surgeons travelling scholarship.[5][12] Earlier, as a research fellow at the Middlesex, he metClare Fowler and together they published research articles onhow nerves work to control themuscles used to control passing urine, work that formed the basis of both Fowler's future contributions tocontinence issues in people withneurological conditions, and Kirby's doctoral thesis.[13] In 1986 they published their findings that disproved the then widely held belief that retention of urine in some women was psychological or hysterical.[14] The condition came to be known asFowler's syndrome and has been found to be potentially treatable.[13] In the same year he gained hisMD from Cambridge,[7] and was elected theHunterian Professorship with a lecture titled "The Investigation and Management of the Neurogenic Bladder".[5][12][15] It was published in theAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, where Kirby showed how the use ofEMG could distinguish between people withpelvic nerve injury, distalautonomic neuropathy, progressiveautonomic failure–multiple system atrophy, andidiopathic Parkinson's disease, thus influencing the selection of people for surgery via theurethra.[16] In 1986, as thePSA test was coming into use, Kirby was also appointed consultant urologist atSt Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and later took over fromJohn Wickham.[3][11]
Kirby subsequently became one of the first urologists in the UK to perform openradical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancers.[6][17] After watching American urologistPatrick C. Walsh at theJohns Hopkins University, Baltimore, perform open radical prostatectomies for prostate cancer, while simultaneously preserving pelvic nerves, he became a staunch advocate of the procedure.[11] In 1995, he became a professor of urology and director of Postgraduate Education atSt George's Hospital, London.[6] By 2005, using a suprapubic transverse incision,[3] Kirby was performing around 130 of these operations a year. Most of these procedures were performed with colleague and anaesthetist Peter Amoroso.[11][18]
In 2005, Kirby established The Prostate Centre inWimpole Street, London. He had previously been watching the development of robotic prostatectomies,[3] and in 2005, for the purpose of performing laparoscopic prostatectomies, ada Vinci surgical robot was acquired.[6] This provided better vision of the pelvic nerves and at the age of 55,[19] he became one of the first surgeons in England to use one.[6] From 2005, the Centre therefore offered minimally invasive laparoscopic prostatectomy with a more holistic approach, advising on a wide range of men's health, including diet and exercise.[11]
Over the course of his surgical career, he undertook over 2000 radical prostatectomy operations, of which most of the later ones were robotic.[7]
His high-profile patients have includedCorin Redgrave,[18][20]Tony Elliott[11] andStephen Fry.[21]
In 1995, Kirby helped found two charities: Prostate Research Campaign and The British Urological Foundation, later renamedThe Urology Foundation, which was established with funds from theBritish Journal of Urology International and theBritish Association of Urological Surgeons.[22] His fundraising activities have included climbingMount Kilimanjaro, trekking in Nepal and cycling across theAndes.[6][23] By 2005, he had completed threeLondon Marathons.[11]
In 2010, he stepped down as chairman of Prostate UK to become trustee of the newly merged charity Prostate Action.[7] The Prostate Cancer Charity founded byJonathan Waxman subsequently merged with Prostate Action in 2012 to form one organisation under the title of Prostate Cancer UK,[24] of which Kirby became vice-president.[25] He is also affiliated with theKing Edward VII's Hospital, a charity-registeredprivate hospital inMarylebone, westLondon.[26]
Some of his fundraising activities have been accomplished with his late colleague,John M. Fitzpatrick[27] and in 2018, he hiked with SirMarcus Setchell.[28] Kirby's efforts to raise awareness of prostate issues have also involved raising significant funds for prostate charities.[7]
In 2005, Kirby was jointly awarded theSt Peter's Medal by theBritish Association of Urological Surgeons.[4][29]
Until 2015, he was council member, secretary and trustee of theBritish Association of Urological Surgeons. Subsequently, he was elected president of the urology section of theRoyal Society of Medicine RSM for 2016/17.[6]
In 2016 he received theRoyal College of Surgeons'Clement Price Thomas Award.[6][30] In the same year, he stepped down from the board of trustees of the Urology Foundation and was subsequently made its life president,[31] and took up the role of chair of the academic board of the RSM,[6] In 2019, he was elected to become president of the RSM for 2020, succeedingSir Simon Wessely.[32][33] His inauguration as president of the RSM took place on 28 July 2020.[8][34] In July 2024, he was succeeded byGillian Leng.[35]
Kirby married Jane Cooper, who editedCountry Living magazine before working as the business manager at her husband's clinic.[36] They have three children includingJoe Kirby, who is a teacher,[37] andVanessa Kirby,[38] who is an actress.[39]
Kirby checked his PSA annually, constructing his own personal PSA slope which remained low.[40][41] However, in 2012, at the age of 61, he noticed a rise and following a3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging,transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy andbone scan, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgical treatment for the condition he had treated throughout his surgical career. AGleason 3+4=7 1.3cc adenocarcinoma was completely resected and he made a full recovery.[41][42]
Following treatment, he was one of four surgeons who freely discussed the diagnosis, treatment and its implications, and featured in a "Tale of Four Prostates" with an accompanying video in 2013. He stated that he "hope(d) that the openness about our own diagnoses and management will help to dispel the taboo that still haunts this most common of cancers of men".[41]
Kirby has published more than 350 peer-reviewed scientific publications, authored 68 books and founded two scientific journals:Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases andTrends in Urology and Men's Health.[6][43] He has also been an associate editor of theBritish Journal of Urology International.[9]
InThe Prostate: Small Gland Big Problem, one section was written by Clive Turner, who had undergone a radical prostatectomy himself and subsequently counselled other men considering the same option.[11] In his textbookMen's Health, dedicated to premature death in men, particularly his father, he, his brother Mike Kirby and colleagueCulley C. Carson III, attempt to address the gender gap in mortality.[2] His bookFast facts: Prostate Cancer entered its tenth edition in 2020.[44]
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