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About Professor John Watkinson

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Professor John Watkinson qualified from the Royal Free Hospital (UCL) and trained in ENT, Head & Neck and Plastic Surgery at Guys and the Royal Marsden. He has Fellowships in General Surgery and Otolaryngology, a MSc in Nuclear Medicine and a MS in Surgery.  From 1992-2017 he was a Consultant Head and Neck and Thyroid surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham where he had a large clinical and research thyroid practice.  He also worked at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Chelsea, London (2016-2017).  He has helped orchestrate or supervise over 40 Higher Degrees, and in 1998 was Hospital Surgical Doctor of the Year.  He has been involved in National Guidelines, and organised the Birmingham Head and Neck course (1997-2006).

Professor Watkinson is currently Honorary Paediatric Head and Neck and Thyroid Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) (please note, The Priory Hospital do not see patients under the age of 18 years old), Locum Surgeon at Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust and Consultant ENT Surgeon at the Priory Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham.  Until recently he was Business Director of the Endocrine MDT at the BUPA Cromwell Hospital as well as Senior Honorary Anatomy Demonstrator at UCL He retired from private practice in Birmingham (The Priory Hospital) in August 2020. His current medical practice is both clinical and medico-legal as well as offering pastoral care to those consultants who need it, as and when, at The Priory Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham.He is also currently a GMC Performance Assessor.

Professor Watkinson is Chief Editor of both the textbooks Stell and Maran and Scott Brown and recent author of the neck section in Gray’s Anatomy.  He was President of BAHNO; 2009-2011, and then President of BAETS; 2011-2013.  He was also President of the RSM Section of Laryngology (2014-2015) and Chair of the Semon Lecture Committee (UCL) from 2013-2017.  John has given a number of eponymous lectures, which include the Stell, John Palmer, the Leegard, Hunterian, the Wilde Discourse, RSM Presidential Address, the Thomas Tatum Lecture as well as the Semon address in 2019.  In 1994, he helped co-found The Get A-Head Charitable Trust.

Please note that Professor Watkinson continues to offer expert advice to patients in at the Priory Hospital. While he no longer performs surgical procedures, he works closely with a network of skilled surgeons, ensuring patients are referred to the most appropriate specialist for their care.

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  • Head and neck cancer 
  • Deafness treatment 
  • Head and neck malignancy surgery 
  • Hearing loss management 
  • Thyroidectomy 
  • Thyroid and parathyroid surgery 
  • Sinusitis treatment 
  • Salivary gland surgery 

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  • General Medical Council (GMC) 
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS)
  • British Association of Endocrime and Thyroid Surgeons (BAETS)
  • Royal Society of Medicine 
  • Medical Defence Union of Scotland

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