UCLH is the designated hospital (called a primary treatment centre) for teenagers and young adults (16-24 years old) with brain tumours.
The service offers input from specialist adolescent oncologists, radiotherapists, neurosurgeons and neurologists.
We operate as a unified cancer centre together with Great Ormond Street Hospital and collectively form the largest paediatric/adolescent oncology centre in Europe. This alliance allows for excellent patient care and the seamless and efficient transition of patients between services.
Consultants
Dr Naomi Fersht coordinates care across brain tumour services at UCLH.
She is a consultant clinical oncologist at University College Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN). She specialises exclusively in the management of primary and secondary brain and spinal tumours. This involves the use of both conventional and innovative radiotherapy techniques and chemotherapy.
Her special interests are: brain oligometastases; meningiomas; pituitary tumours; the management of teenagers and young adults with brain tumours (age 16-24); and advanced radiotherapy techniques including radiosurgery.
She qualified from the University of Cambridge and her specialist training was at the Royal Marsden and University College Hospitals. Naomi's doctoral thesis, supervised by Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse, was in cell cycle checkpoints.
Dr Jeremy Rees was appointed as a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) in 1999 and has built a national and international reputation in neuro-oncology, seeing patients with brain tumours, particularly low-grade gliomas. His opinion is widely sought on the diagnosis and treatment of neurological problems related to cancer and cancer treatments. He was previously the Director for London Cancer Brain Tumour Pathway Board, involved in systematic improvements to patient pathways in North London.
He has been Education Lead for Neurology at UCL Medical School and is currently the Lead for the Special Study Module in Neurology. He lectures widely to different professional groups and has written chapters and a textbook in Neuro-oncology. He was the Chief Investigator for the UK in a major European trial of treatment options in Low Grade Gliomas.
Mr Neil Kitchen is a consultant neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) and lead neurosurgeon for neuro-oncology.
He studied medicine at Bart's Health, University College London Hospitals and at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Before moving to Cambridge he completed a BSc degree in the history of medicine at the Wellcome Institute.
Mr Kitchen has special clinical interest in brain tumour surgery, intracranial microsurgery, trigeminal neuralgia, cavernoma and radiosurgery (Gamma Knife).
Mr Kitchen has also worked at Bart's, Charing Cross Hospital, the Royal Free, Atkinson Morley's, Southend Hospital, and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Ciaran Scott Hill is an academic consultant neurosurgeon/honorary associate professor with a neurosurgical oncology subspeciality focus based at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neuosurgery and the UCL Cancer Institute.
His practice includes all forms of brain tumours and other general neurosurgical conditions of the brain and spine. He graduated top of his year at Barts and The Royal London Medical School with a double distinction and then completed his neurosurgical training in London with an academic clinical lectureship in neurosurgical oncology at Queen Square, London. He holds an MSc in clinical neuroscience (distinction) from UCL and a PhD in molecular neurobiology from the University of Cambridge (Jesus College).
