About the Practice.
Introduction
Professor Rakesh Heer MB BS BMedSci MRCS(Eng) PhD FRCS(Urol) is a nationally respected consultant urologist. He provides expert care across a wide range of urological conditions and specialises in the management of bladder and prostate cancer. Professor Heer is an experienced clinician, providing an unbiased and individualised approach to your clinical care. He will offer you the full breadth of treatment options for your condition and help you make the best-informed decision about your care. The aim is to help pick the right treatment, at the right time, for the right patient.
Biography
Professor Rakesh Heer has more than 25 years’ experience as an NHS doctor and over 10 years as specialist consultant urologist.
He graduated from Nottingham medical school in 1997 and undertook his surgical and research training in the Newcastle, where became the Professor of Urology and led the one of the largest academic departments in the country. At the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, one of the largest cancer networks in the UK, he led a regional bladder cancer service and was key member of a multidisciplinary supra-regional service for complex pelvic surgery.
Professor Heer was a pioneer of robotic surgery in the UK, leading the development of robotic cystotomy surgery and urinary tract reconstructions in the northeast. He has trained many consultants in robotic surgery, as part of a prestigious fellowship program attracting high calibre senior fellows from around the world and as Programme Director for Cystectomy for the International Newcastle Robotic Cadaveric Training Couse. He was also the clinical governance lead for the Newcastle urology department of 20 consultants, ensuring safe and high-quality service providing for 1.5M urology patients.
Professor Heer’s outstanding work across the domains of clinical care, developing innovative service to improve patient outcomes, national leadership, world leading research, and teaching and training of other doctors was recognised by a prestigious National Clinical Excellence Award. Recently, he moved to take a new professorial post at Imperial College London, to join an exciting team of world-renowned academic urologists in one of the UK’s premier academic urology departments.
Clinical expertise
Professor Heer is an established consultant with extensive experience across the full breadth of general urology (see conditions managed).
He has specialist interests focused on all aspects of management for prostate and bladder cancer. In particular, he has a reputable high volume robotic surgery practice for prostatectomy (remove of the prostate for cancer), cystectomy (removal of the bladder), and urinary tract reconstruction (ileal conduits and orthotopic bladders). Professor Heer provides excellent surgical outcomes, benchmarked against national standards (BAUS and National Prostate Cancer Audits). He also provides care for male sexual dysfunction, which can follow with these major surgeries.
Beyond surgical outcomes, Professor Heer puts patient experience at the heart of his clinical care with holistic and timely management. He is approachable, honest, and caring. He will provide thorough explanations of your condition, investigations and all the options for surgical treatment and non-surgical management.
Research
Professor Heer MB BS BMedSci MRCS(Eng) PhD FRCS(Urol) is a leading surgeon scientist. He is a full professor, holding a Departmental Chair at Imperial College London.
His pioneering research has been funding by over £20M of competitively secured grants and includes clinical trials of prostate, bladder and kidney cancer to identify the best treatments. Professor Heer also leads an internationally renowned laboratory research group discovering underpinning molecular process driving urological cancers that can be targeted as new treatments. His high impact research outputs are published in the top medical journals, including Nature, Cell and New England Journal of Medicine.
Professor Heer holds several major national leadership roles, including Chairman of the NICE guideline writing committees (describing national standard of high-quality care) and Deputy Chair of the NIHR’s Health Technology Assessment committee (the biggest funder of innovative clinical research in the UK). He also held a senior University faculty position as Associate Dean of Post Graduate studies and director of MD studies and clinician PhDs (Newcastle University, 2016-2022).
He has several awards and accolades recognising his substantial contributions to research and clinical practice, including an Huntarian Professorship Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, invitations to present at international meetings, prestigious Clinician Scientist Fellowships (CRUK and MRC) and a National Clinical Excellence award from the health minister.
Professor Heer’s extensive research expertise anchors a rigorous approach in offering treatments with robust evidence of effectiveness to help you sail through a sea of treatment options for some conditions. He will help provide you with the safe and effective care in line with medical best practice.