I have arranged to meet up with Professor Shafi Ahmed at his London Club. The receptionist appears momentarily befuddled when I tell her who I’m here to meet – at least until a colleague whispers helpfully into her ear…
‘Oh, you mean Shafi. He’s by the table near the window’. We greet each other with a simple handshake. No academic or professional formality here and no long introductions. We have in fact been friends for over 20 years – veterans of surgical training on the London circuit and postgraduate research at Bart’s and the London School of Medicine. Despite this, I’m still not entirely sure what he actually, does.
I have in fact been tracking Shafi on social media for the last few days – from Malaysia to Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam where he has just delivered the prestigious Spinoza Lecture and received a Chair at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre. It’s pretty much a normal working week for him. Despite this he’s relaxed and pleased to talk about his eclectic clinical and media interests.
Shafi Ahmed was originally appointed as Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. As Clinical Lead, he was instrumental in establishing the laparoscopic colorectal service before being appointed as Cancer Lead. He was very much the pioneer for minimally invasive surgery of his time. Before his appointment, he had declined far more ‘lucrative’ postings in favour of his East London home. And to this day, it remains the visual back-drop and view from his apartment in Stratford – a daily reminder of the community in which he grew up and the community which he continues to serve.
For Shafi, surgery always was and will always remain, more about community service than career. Displaced as a child during the turmoil which unfolded following the partition of India and escaping with his family moments before his village was raised to the ground in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) he arrived in the United Kingdom at the age of four with little more than what he was wearing. It is telling that there is only a single surviving photo of him before this time. Some of his early experiences in London were clearly sobering.
A reflection of a time when racism was open and commonplace and went unchallenged. Has this left a lasting legacy? He shrugs his shoulders. It’s not something he dwells upon but it has clearly been a driver behind his desire to break down establishment barriers. Whatever the past, suffice to say, there is no silver spoon here. But the circumstances have clearly proven to be a strong incentive for his family to succeed (his sister is a High Court Judge) and the same motivation appears to be apparent in the next generation (his son has followed him into Medicine and is currently studying at Manchester University).
He arrived in the United Kingdom at the age of four, with little more than what he was wearing.
University teaching roles had made Shafi aware of the somewhat jaundiced experiences of undergraduates during their surgical attachments and so he sought to enhance their participation in theatre. Traditionally, hands-on experiences in surgical theatres has been likened to a surgical scrum - with precious few being able to glean any meaningful view of surgical procedures. The answer? Google glass technology. In 2014 in what subsequently became a landmark event, Shafi undertook a right-sided hemicolectomy whilst wearing Google glass technology. Not only did students on attachment to the surgical firm benefit from better views and contemporaneous commentary but the procedure was also watched live by 14,000 people from 118 different countries. Pandora’s box had well and truly been opened.
In 2016 Shafi used a virtual reality platform (which provided a 360-degree view of the operating theatre) to allow a more ‘immersive’ experience during a laparoscopic anterior resection and which allowed the viewer to more fully appreciate the multiple roles and personnel involved in the delivery of an operation. This time there were 55,00 viewers from 114 different countries. In 2017, he utilized the ‘snapchat’ platform to record a hernia repair, breaking down components of the operation into modular ‘bite-sized’ segments to help with teaching. Shafi subsequently took control of the NHS ‘Twitter’ platform which allowed him to transmit live surgery clips with corresponding commentary made by a colleague. This time the viewers numbered over 1 million. Soon after, Shafi also appeared in the BAFTA nominated Channel 5 production which involved the live filming of a laparoscopic right hemi-colectomy – this time bringing ‘live’ surgery into the mainstream. This and other events were eventually picked up by ‘Time’ magazine which shared these innovations with its global audience of 56 million.
What has been his fascination with technology? As far as timelines are concerned he freely admits he is closer to the abacus than the play station generation. For Shafi however, this has never been a case of ‘boys and their toys’. Technology that breaks down established barriers and glass ceilings. Technology that democratises education and challenges the established order. Technology that reveals Medicine to those who wish to learn and understand. He is unapologetic to those who have denounced the live-streaming of surgical operations as both prurient and theatrical. In his mind these events have simply removed, once and for all, the soft-focus lens placed by the media on the reality of surgery. What if there are complications per-operatively? His view is somewhat sanguine. All surgeons live with the dread of operative complications and suffer the agony of failing to match the increasingly unrealistic expectations promoted by television dramas and glossy magazines. This is real. This is uncut and raw; and the public, have a right to know about the reality of surgical intervention. For Shafi, this is a very visual and visceral form of surgical consent.
With the realization that technology had a crucial role to play in enhancing medical education he co-founded the company Medical RealitiesTM. It offers a number of digital solutions to healthcare training from simulation to patient consultation engines, from patient avatars to digital anatomy. And whilst he remains its Chief Medical Officer, Shaffi has increasingly taken on a number of consultancy roles, one of which involves being advisor to the Abu Dhabi government. He is a regular headline speaker at TEDx events speaking largely on subjects related to connectivity and is also a driving force behind the Giant Health meetings. More recently he was appointed as the Vodafone Ambassador for Connected Health with an aim to enhance connectivity between clinician. One of its aims is to bring to fruition the reality of 5G theatres (to allow tele-proctoring and tele-mentoring). He has a huge social media following on a variety of platforms including Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
All these commitments have necessarily impacted on the time available for clinical work. That said, Shafi continues to have a regular clinical practice at the Royal London Hospital and he is responsible for the hugely successful ‘Barts-X’ module in the undergraduate medical curriculum. It teaches undergraduates about technology and innovation and boasts an international faculty. The module provides students with mentors who help them develop their ideas and in a conclusion to the module students pitch their ideas to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style panel of venture capitalists. The blueprint has now been replicated at Imperial College in London because of the demand driven by students themselves. In addition to these University affiliations (he holds visiting Professorships at Imperial, UCL and Amsterdam) he also holds Chairs at Bradford and Bolton Universities. With his regular clinical duties reduced it has allowed him to spend greater periods of time undertaking humanitarian work (he is a regular visitor to Gaza to help surgical colleagues develop the surgical service there).
I ask Shafi about his time as an elected member of Council at the Royal College Surgeons of England. He clearly found the role engaging and especially his role in developing the International Surgical Training Program which provided international medical graduates an opportunity to develop skills which can and will benefit local communities on their return home. So why did he resign before the end of his term? He gives me a rueful smile. Clearly somethings were difficult to change. ‘Plus, ca change’ he says (and if you know, you know). When another four white privately educated, men were elected to the most senior roles at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Shafi tweeted ‘this is 2020, not 1920’. It touched a nerve. In the social media storm that ensued the establishment found it difficult to control the traditional narrative which questioned the ability of the College to embrace the ethnic and gender diversity of its Members and Fellow. It resulted in a grass roots review by Baroness Kennedy and wide-ranging reforms and to which Shafi contributed.
‘Plus, ca change’ he says …and if you know, you know.
So, what does he do in his spare time? Does he have any? Well, he’s currently and diligently putting in the hours as he works towards his Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL). He is a keen sportsman and avid follower of Formula 1 motor-racing, cricket and football. The question seems to have unsettled him slightly. Shafi has glanced at his watch a couple of times now and I’m aware he may have other commitments. Has he got a meeting to attend? Another transatlantic flight? In fact, he’s supposed to be on his way to his brother’s place to watch West Ham play at home and he’s currently running a little late. For someone with an inherently instinctual ability to predict global changes in technological innovation in the field of Surgery his view that West Ham stand even a remote chance of winning this evening borders on the delusional. You don’t need Google glass to predict that. And I tell him so!
Before he leaves I ask him one last question – one from a long-standing friend. Tell me something that no one else knows about you. His answer? He has previously been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. He asks me not to mention it in my article - but knows me well enough to realise that I’m going to write about it anyway.
