Dr Babar Vaqas

Babar leads Neurology teaching at ARU and oversees the Neurology teaching block. He is a Consultant Neurosurgeon and specialises in brain tumour surgery. He has a research interest in Neuro-oncology and Neuro-technology.

[email protected]

Visit Babar's website

Follow Babar on Twitter

Connect with Babar on LinkedIn

Background

Babar graduated in Medicine from the University of Oxford. He has a First Class BSc in Neuroscience. After graduation he was selected for the prestigious Cambridge Basic Surgical Training Program and went on to obtain his National Training Number in Neurosurgery on the London Neurosurgery Training Program. He was awarded a PhD from Imperial College London during his training for pioneering work as one of the first in the world to use Raman Spectroscopy and the iKnife in brain tumour surgery.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Consultant Neurosurgeon and Chair of the North East London Cancer Alliance Brain ERG.

Areas of Expertise:

• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Neuroanatomy
• Oncology

Spoken Languages

• English
• Urdu
• Punjabi

Research interests

• Molecular Profiling of Brain Tumours
• Machine Learning in Healthcare
• Complex Surgical Data Visualisation

Babar’s research work involves the use of novel technologies to profile brain tumours in real-time during surgery. His aim is to use this technology as a platform for precision medicine in human brain tumours. He uses machine learning as applied to large datasets to build complex predictive models to guide decision making. He is also working on data visualisation models to better understand how neuronavigational and multimodal data should be presented to the surgeon in the operating room to aid safer, faster surgery.

Teaching

• Undergraduate Medicine

Qualifications

• PhD Analytical Chemistry as Applied to Oncological Surgery, Imperial College London
• FRCS (Surgical Neurology), Royal College of Surgeons of England
• BM BCh, University of Oxford
• BSc (Honours) Neuroscience, University College London

Memberships, editorial boards

• Member, Society of British Neurological Surgeons
• Member, Society for Neuro-oncology
• Member, British Neuro-oncology Society
• Member, European Association of Neurosurgical Societies
• Member, American Association for Cancer Research

Selected recent publications

ADEGBOYEGA, G., KANMOUNYE, U. S., PETRINIC, T., OZAIR, A., BANDYOPADHYAY, S., KURI, A., ZOLO, Y., MARKS, K., RAMJEE, S., BATICULON, R. E. & VAQAS, B. 2021a. Global Landscape of Glioblastoma Multiforme Management in the Stupp Protocol Era: Systematic Review Protocol. International Journal of Surgery: Protocols, 25, 108.

ADEGBOYEGA, G., OZAIR, A., KANMOUNYE, U. S., BANDYOPADHYAY, S. & VAQAS, B. 2021b. Letter: Is the Stupp Protocol an Expensive and Unsustainable Standard of Care for Glioblastoma in Low- and Middle-Income Country Settings? A Call to Action! Neurosurgery, 89, E249-E251.

GILLESPIE, C. S., BLIGH, E. R., POON, M. T. C., SOLOMOU, G., ISLIM, A. I., MUSTAFA, M. A., ROMINIYI, O., WILLIAMS, S. T., KALRA, N., MATHEW, R. K., BOOTH, T. C., THOMPSON, G., BRENNAN, P. M. & JENKINSON, M. D. 2022. Imaging timing after glioblastoma surgery (INTERVAL-GB): protocol for a UK and Ireland, multicentre retrospective cohort study. BMJ Open, 12, e063043.

GRAY, E., BUTLER, H. J., BOARD, R., BRENNAN, P. M., CHALMERS, A. J., DAWSON, T., GOODDEN, J., HAMILTON, W., HEGARTY, M. G., JAMES, A., JENKINSON, M. D., KERNICK, D., LEKKA, E., LIVERMORE, L. J., MILLS, S. J., O’NEILL, K., PALMER, D. S., VAQAS, B. & BAKER, M. J. 2018. Health economic evaluation of a serum-based blood test for brain tumour diagnosis: exploration of two clinical scenarios. BMJ Open, 8, e017593.

GRECH-SOLLARS, M., ORDIDGE, K. L., VAQAS, B., DAVIES, C., VAJA, V., HONEYFIELD, L., CAMP, S., TOWEY, D., MAYERS, H., PETERSON, D., O’NEILL, K., RONCAROLI, F., BARWICK, T. D. & WALDMAN, A. D. 2019. Imaging and Tissue Biomarkers of Choline Metabolism in Diffuse Adult Glioma: 18F-Fluoromethylcholine PET/CT, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, and Choline Kinase α. Cancers, 11, 1969.

GRECH-SOLLARS, M., VAQAS, B., THOMPSON, G., BARWICK, T., HONEYFIELD, L., O’NEILL, K. & WALDMAN, A. D. 2017. An MRS- and PET-guided biopsy tool for intraoperative neuronavigational systems. Journal of Neurosurgery, 1-7.

HARRIS, L., RAHMAN, S., KHOUDIR, M., LOW, H. L. & VAQAS, B. 2022. Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Adults Undergoing Surgery for Brain Tumors. Cureus.

KHOUDIR, M., HARRIS, L., TOESCU, S. M. & VAQAS, B. 2022. Scrotal migration of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt in an adult. A case report and literature review. Brain & spine., 2, 100898.

KURIAN, K. M., JENKINSON, M. D., BRENNAN, P. M., GRANT, R., JEFFERIES, S., ROONEY, A. G., BULBECK, H., ERRIDGE, S. C., MILLS, S., MCBAIN, C., MCCABE, M. G., PRICE, S. J., MARINO, S., MOYES, E., QIAN, W., WALDMAN, A., VAQAS, B., KEATLEY, D., BURCHILL, P. & WATTS, C. 2018. Brain tumor research in the United Kingdom: current perspective and future challenges. A strategy document from the NCRI Brain Tumor CSG. Neuro-oncology practice., 5, 10-17.

PIPER, R. J., AFSHARI, F. T., SOON, W. C., KOLIAS, A. G., DYSON, E. W., WATKINS, L., LAING, R., LO, W. B. & JAYAMOHAN, J. 2021. UK Chiari 1 Study: protocol for a prospective, observational, multicentre study. BMJ Open, 11, e043712.

VAQAS, B., CAMERON, S. J., ALEXANDER, J. L., O’NEILL, K. S., KINROSS, J. M. & TAKATS, Z. 2019. Chapter 7 - The iKnife: Development and Clinical Applications of Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry. In: LINDON, J. C., NICHOLSON, J. K. & HOLMES, E. (eds.) The Handbook of Metabolic Phenotyping. Elsevier.