Roger Kirby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 1950 (age 73–74) Buckinghamshire, England |
| Education | St John's College, Cambridge (BS, 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 the Royal Society of Medicine (2020 - 2024) |
| Spouse | Jane |
| Children | 3, including Vanessa and Joe |
| 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 Kirby FRCS(Urol), FEBU (born November 1950) is a British retired prostate surgeon and professor of urology. He is prominent as a writer on men's health and prostate disease, the founding editor of the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases and Trends in Urology and Men's Health and a fundraiser for prostate disease charities, best known for his use of the da Vinci surgical robot for laparoscopic prostatectomy in the treatment of prostate cancer. He is a co-founder and president of the charity The Urology Foundation (TUF), vice-president of the charity Prostate Cancer UK, trustee of the King Edward VII's Hospital, and from 2020 to 2024 was president of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), London.
Following his medical education and training at the St John's College, Cambridge and Middlesex Hospital, London, and with a distinction in surgery, Kirby took various surgical posts across England. In 1979 he gained fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. His early research involved looking at how nerves work to control the muscles used to control passing urine, findings of which disproved the then held belief that retention of urine in some women was psychological, and work that contributed to gaining his MD 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 at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He later took over from John Wickham and subsequently became one of the first urologists in the UK to perform open radical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancers. In 1995, he became a professor of urology and Director of Postgraduate Education at St George's Hospital, London, and in 2005 he established The Prostate Centre in Wimpole Street, London, with the purpose of offering minimally invasive laparoscopic prostatectomy with a more holistic approach, advising on a wide range of men's health, including diet and exercise.
An advocate of monitoring one's own personal PSA level and having spent his surgical career researching and treating prostate cancer, he was diagnosed and treated for prostate 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.