Undergraduate qualification
MB ChB, University of Bristol, 1995
Postgraduate Qualifications
Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1997
MD, University of Bristol, 2007
Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, FRCS (Urol), 2006
Summary of Surgical Training and Experience
Following his undergraduate degree in Medicine at the University of Bristol, Biral worked as a House Officer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and the Bristol Royal Infirmary. He went on to do his Basic Surgical Training in the Bristol area (1995 – 1999), gaining experience in a wide variety of surgical specialties including Colorectal surgery, upper Gastrointestinal, Orthopaedic and Cardiac surgery, Urology, Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care. At the start of this he also worked as a Lecturer in Clinical Anatomy at the University of Bristol, where his role included teaching anatomy to medical and dental students as well as other allied professionals such as Physiotherapists. This was followed by a period in formal research (see below)
It was during his basic surgical training that Biral developed a love and passion for urology. People often ask ‘why urology’? For Biral, it was a combination of reasons which included working for some of the nicest and most enthusiastic and prominent of urologists, being able to perform a wide variety of surgery for both cancer and non-cancer (major open surgery, keyhole surgery, endoscopic surgery), being able to make a huge difference to the lives of people (urological problems often have the greatest impact on the quality of life of patients) and also personal Quality of Life implications.
Following research, he undertook his Higher Surgical Training in Urology in the Southwest region as a Registrar in Urology. This involved spending a year each at various hospitals across the region including some of the large centres like the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Southmead Hospital in Bristol and Gloucestershire Hospitals. This was an opportunity to gain experience working under prominent consultants, many of whom were internationally renowned experts in their field.
Having completed his Higher Surgical Training in Urology in the Southwest region, Mr Patel was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2006 (FRCS Urol) and was appointed a Consultant Urological Surgeon in Gloucestershire in 2007. He was the Clinical Lead for Urology in Gloucestershire for 3 years until 2015. One of the real highlights was that Mr. Patel was very instrumental in the development of Robotic urological surgery in Gloucestershire, leading the 6 year campaign to bring robotic surgery to Gloucestershire – this included public awareness, educational and fundraising campaigns. He is part of a large cancer team looking after patients from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and South Worcestershire who suffer from urological cancers and includes robotic cancer surgery. He continues to maintain an active interest in the Teaching and Training of junior doctors, General Practitioners and Urologists in the UK. He was appointed to the post of Training Programme Director for Urology in the Southwest in 2014 and continued until 2018, overseeing the postgraduate training of the urologists in the region. He also maintains an interest in the training and provision of basic surgery in the developing world through his work with Urolink , part of the British Association of Urological Surgeons.
Research
Between his Basic Surgical and Higher Surgical Training, Biral spent a period in formal research working towards a postgraduate qualification. He helped to set up and run a large, multi-centre UK study, The PROCESS Study. His research interest was in the Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer with a particular focus on the higher burden of the disease amongst men of African descent. The PROCESS Study was the first study in the world to investigate the incidence of prostate cancers amongst men of different ethnic subgroups – until then most US studies would group all black men into one group without differentiating between men of African and Caribbean origin, and all Asian men in to a single group. The study showed that African-Caribbean men in the UK had the highest incidence of prostate cancer, much higher than that of white men. They also developed the disease at a younger age. The research attracted over £350,000 in grants from the Department of Health, The Prostate Cancer Charity, UK, and the AstraZeneca Foundation. Mr Patel was awarded a Doctor of Medicine (MD) by the University of Bristol.
Biral Patel Urology 