Professor Martin Birchall
Consultant ENT Surgeon
Professor Birchall is an internationally leading ENT surgeon specialising in Laryngology (disorders of voice, swallowing and breathing). He manages a wide range of conditions affecting the throat and larynx, including hoarseness, difficulty swallowing (including pharyngeal pouch/Zenker’s diverticulum), cough and reflux issues affecting the throat.
He also has an interest in helping singers and other professional voice users with vocal problems, and also those with ENT problems relating to hypermobility/EDS. He is a Professor at UCL and supervises a large research group working on the application of advanced technologies to throat problems. His h-index is 51 and I have over 260 scientific publications.
Prof Birchall is the only ENT surgeon elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was named Daily Telegraph-Morgan Stanley Briton of the Year for Science and Technology in 2008. As well as his clinical and research work, he is a highly experienced Expert Witness with an even split of Defendant and Claimant work.
Treatments
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Additional information about Professor Martin Birchall
Prof Birchall lives in Bath and works in London several days per week. He is a member of Walcot Velo Club (road cycling) and is a keen follower of football, cricket, cycling and athletics. He has five amazing grown-up children and plans to get at least one dog. He loves cinema (especially sci-fi) and live Shakespeare, his favourite food is Italian and his heroes are JFK and Thomas Aquinas.
Professor of Laryngology and Consultant ENT Surgeon UCL and UCLH NHS Foundation Trust.
1985
Prof Birchall manages a wide range of conditions affecting the throat and larynx, including hoarseness, difficulty swallowing (including pharyngeal pouch/Zenker’s diverticulum), cough and reflux issues affecting the throat. He also has an interest in helping singers and other professional voice users with vocal problems, and also those with ENT problems relating to hypermobility/EDS.
Prof Birchall's 30-year research career has seen him bring the best of advanced therapeutics to serious throat problems. He co-led the teams that performed the first functionally reinnervated laryngeal transplant and the world’s first tissue-engineered airway transplants in adults and children. He has assisted in the translation of cell therapies to clinic and is presently concentrating on the exciting potential of soft robotics.
GMC
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
British Laryngological Association.
European Laryngological Society.
American Broncho-Esophagological Association.
Daily Telegraph-Morgan Stanley Briton of the Year for Science and Technology, 2008.
Gold Clinical Excellence Award 2017+
NIHR Senior Investigator 2020+
Prof Birchall's results for laryngeal and pharyngeal surgery are at least as good as those in major published series. With respect to his personal series of 72 pharyngeal pouches (Zenker’s Diverticula), his perforation (major complication) rate is <3% compared to published series figures of 5-11%.
Over 260 scientific papers. Some recent examples are:
Vocal nodules management.
Birchall MA, Carding P. Clin Otolaryngol. 2019 Jul;44(4):497-501. doi: 10.1111/coa.13324. Epub 2019 Apr 26. PMID: 30834711
Laryngological presentations and patient-reported outcome measures in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Lam CM, Wood G, Birchall MA. J Laryngol Otol. 2021 Dec 10:1-13. doi: 10.1017/S0022215121004072. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34889173
Lancet Commission: Stem cells and regenerative medicine.
Cossu G, Birchall M, Brown T, De Coppi P, Culme-Seymour E, Gibbon S, Hitchcock J, Mason C, Montgomery J, Morris S, Muntoni F, Napier D, Owji N, Prasad A, Round J, Saprai P, Stilgoe J, Thrasher A, Wilson J. Lancet. 2018 Mar 3;391(10123):883-910. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31366-1. Epub 2017 Oct 4. PMID: 28987452
α-Helical peptides on plasma-treated polymers promote ciliation of airway epithelial cells.
Mehrban N, Cardinale D, Gallo SC, Lee DDH, Arne Scott D, Dong H, Bowen J, Woolfson DN, Birchall MA, O'Callaghan C. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2021 Mar;122:111935. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2021.111935. Epub 2021 Feb 5. PMID: 33641925
'Theatre Comm' - optimising communication in surgical theatres during COVID-19.
Mathews JA, Blencowe NS, Adcock S, Gane S, Nangalia V, Patel A, Blazeby JM, Birchall M. Br J Surg. 2020 Sep;107(10):e393. doi: 10.1002/bjs.11834. Epub 2020 Jul 28. PMID: 32720711