Naeem, 62, is a consultant urologist with a special interest in robotic surgery for prostate / kidney cancer and living donor kidney transplants. Having qualified in 1982 in Pakistan, he has been working at Newcastle Hospitals since 1987 and has been a consultant since 1998.
Nationally, he is the Royal College of Surgeons (England) Co-Director in Robotic and Digital Surgery, developing and implementing strategy of wider adoption of robotic and digital surgery across the UK and he is also the robotic lead for Newcastle Health Innovation Partners.
As the lead in Robotic Surgery Newcastle, he had lead the biggest robotic surgery programme in the UK with a team of 25 surgeons delivering more than 4,000 robotic surgery operations across 8 surgical specialties.
What made you get into this area of medicine?
I come from a medical family and my father was a doctor. I was inclined to become a doctor – and in particular a surgeon with interest in kidney transplantation – after my uncle died in his 20s with renal failure. I remember the anguish and suffering for my grandparents on his death. My overriding aim as a surgeon has been to reduce human suffering.
What is the favourite part of your work / interests outside of work?
My favourite part of my work has to be talking to and reassuring patients who are rightly anxious after cancer diagnosis on the prospect of undergoing major surgery. I also enjoy teaching and training surgeons and surgical workforce, thus improving surgical outcomes.
Outside of work I like walking on Northumbrian mountains and beaches, I play golf in summer months and also enjoy travelling, museums, galleries, reading.
What was your involvement in filming?
I undertook minimally invasive surgery for a patient who was donating their kidney as part of a living donor procedure.
What would you say to someone who is interested in progressing a similar career?
I will strongly recommend any young person who wants to reduce human suffering to become a surgeon. Surgeons can directly and quickly help reduce pain, deal with life threatening emergencies, remove cancers and correct severe disabilities. Medical technology is also progressing and in future surgeons will be using robots, data science and artificial intelligence to further improve outcome and reduce harm
