Photo of Dr Alan Fayaz

Dr Alan Fayaz

Location:

  • National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

GMC/GDC number:

6076122

Professional background

Alan Fayaz is substantive consultant in pain medicine, anaesthesia and perioperative care at UCLH. His clinical interests include the management of patients with neuropathic pain, pain relating to neurological disease and complex general pain.

Alan studied preclinical medicine at the University of Cambridge and clinical medicine at Imperial College London. In 2012, the Faculty of Pain Medicine awarded him the examination prize, for achieving the top score at the FFPMRCA examination. He has also been awarded the Nuffield gold medal, from the Royal College of Anaesthetists, for performance in the primary FRCA examination. 

Alan is the acting chair of the communications committee and the media liaison for the British Pain Society; his remit is to raise public awareness of chronic pain, and to facilitate engagement between pain clinicians and patients/allied health professionals. He has strong links with undergraduate and postgraduate education. He has worked with the Faculty of Pain Medicine, and Mercy Ships to deliver EPM (Essentials of Pain Medicine) training to healthcare professionals in Africa, and to medical students and junior doctors in the United Kingdom and is currently serving as the ‘Regional Lead’ for EPM in London. 

Specialties

Research interests

In 2017 Alan obtained his doctorate in medical research from Imperial College London, after successfully submitting his thesis on pain epidemiology. His research outputs include a contemporaneous assessment of the prevalence of chronic pain phenotypes in the United Kingdom, published in the British Medical Journal. The article has been cited over 850 times since publication and boasts a social media ‘altmetric’ score in the top 5% of all research outputs scored to date. Alan is an Honorary Associate Professor at University College London, and the lead for the Pain Education Research Centre PERC@UCLH. His current research interests include the perioperative care of complex pain patients, advanced treatments for chronic neuropathic pain, and the role of cannabis based medicinal products in chronic pain management.

Languages spoken

Farsi, French

Publications

  • Provision of Intravenous Lidocaine for Chronic Pain. A Survey of Current Practice Across Pain Services in the United Kingdom. Fayaz, A. (2024).  British Journal of Pain 18(1_suppl): 1-71.
  • Medical Cannabis for Chronic Pain in the UK: An 18-Month Longitudinal Observational Study of 1993 Individuals Enrolled in Project Twenty21. Lambarth, A. Lynskey, M. Schlag, A. Fayaz, A.  British Journal of Pain 18(1_suppl): 1-71.
  • Chapter 31: Pain in Neurological Disorders. Neurology: A Queen Square Textbook, 3rd Edition Fayaz A, Bhattacharjee A. Wiley-Blackwell. [Editors: Howard R, Kullman DM, Werring D, Zandi M] March 2024
  • Interventions to reduce postsurgical pain, and opioid use, in patients with pre-existing chronic pain or high-dose opioid use: a systematic review (Senior author) Russell T, Oliver C, Daly M, et al. Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine 2023;48:A42-A43.
  • Predicting severe pain after major surgery: a secondary analysis of the Peri-operative Quality Improvement Programme (PQIP) dataset. Armstrong RA, Fayaz A, Manning GLP, et al. Anaesthesia. 2023 Mar 2. PMID: 36862937.
  • Oral and parenteral anti-neuropathic agents for the management of pain and discomfort in irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lambarth, A, Zarate-Lopez, N, Fayaz, A. Neurogastroenterology & Motil
  • Characteristics of People Seeking Prescribed Cannabinoids for the Treatment of Chronic Pain: Evidence From Project Twenty 21 Schlag AK, Lynskey M, Fayaz A, et al. Front Pain Res. 2022
  • Lidocaine infusions in chronic pain management: A prospective case series analysis. Vacher E, Kosela M, Song-Smith C, Morell-Ducos F, Fayaz A. Br J Pain. 2022.
  • Global variance in pain prevalence: what does it tell us?  
  • Fayaz A. Pain News 2022, Vol 20(2) 51–52 © The British Pain Society 2022. Sage
  • A Multicriteria Decision Analysis Comparing Pharmacotherapy for Chronic Neuropathic Pain, Including Cannabinoids and Cannabis-Based Medical Products
  • Nutt DJ, Lawrence PD, Barnes MP, et al. Journal of Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, March 2021
  • The Association Between Chronic Pain and Cardiac Disease: A Cross-sectional Population Study. Fayaz A, Watt HC, Langford RM, Donaldson LJ. The Clinical Journal of Pain. 2016;32(12):1062-8.
  • Assessing the relationship between chronic pain and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Fayaz A, Ayis S, Panesar S, Langford RM, Donaldson LJ. Scandinavian Journal of Pain. 2016 Oct;13:76-90       
  • Prevalence of chronic pain in the UK: a systematic review and meta-analysis of population studies. Fayaz A, Croft P, Langford RM, Donaldson LJ, Jones GT. BMJ Open. 2016;6(6).
  • Integrating Research with Chronic Pain Training. A Fayaz. Transmitter Journal, p14 Autumn 2014.
  • Case Report: Cervical Meningioma presenting with back pain; A Fayaz, S Nikolic. Journal of Observational Pain Medicine Vol. 1 No. 3 (2014) ISSN: 2047-0800
  • Physiotherapy after spinal injections; A Fayaz, K Ullrich. Pain News Vol. 11 No. 3 (2013) p185-187
  • Leadership development for early career doctors; CEM Coltart, R Cheung, A Ardolino et al. The Lancet Vol. 379 No. 9828 May 12, 2012 p1763-1850
  • Checking placement of nasogastric feeding tubes in adults: summary of a safety report from the NPSA; Lamont T, Beaumont C, A Fayaz et al. BMJ 2011.1022;342:d2586
  • Reporting and Learning from Close Calls. A Fayaz, L Morlock. Chapter 2 from the book ‘The value of Close Calls in Improving Patient Safety’ published under the Joint Commission resources, 2011, p13-24
  • Reducing the harm caused by misplaced nasogastric feeding tubes in adults, children and infants; National Patient Safety Agency: Patient Safety Alert 002; March 2011; (Co-author and project lead)
  • Clinical Audit: Why it matters; A Fayaz. BMJ careers July 2010.
  • Pauci-immune necrotizing and crescenteric glomerulonephritis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus; A Fayaz, Y Pirson, JP Cosyns et al. Clin Nephrology. 2008 Apr; 69(4):290-3
  • Neoadjuvant FEC chemotherapy followed by docetaxel in refractory patients with locally advanced breast cancer; W Heller, D Mazhar, R Ward et al. Oncology Rep. 2007 Jan;17(1):253-9 (Data Collection and Analysis)