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About Dr Shashank Sharma
Personal Profile
Dr Shashank Sharma is a Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, specialising in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer and recurrent chest infections.
Training and Appointment
Dr Sharma graduated from Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University (Chennai, India) in 2001 and completed a Diploma in Chest Diseases from Delhi University (India) in 2004. He completed core medical training in Wales and then moved to London for specialist training in Respiratory Medicine.
He received Best Newcomer Trainee Prize in April 2008, during his first year of higher training. Dr Sharma completed his specialist Respiratory training in London and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex deanery, obtaining MRCP (Respiratory) in 2014. During his training he also took a year off to complete a postgraduate certificate in Medical Education from St George’s, University of London.
Dr Shashank joined Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital (ASPH) in 2014 as a respiratory consultant, where he successfully introduced multiple new services including an Ambulatory Pleural Service and Medical Thoracoscopy, both of which are highly regarded. He has also set up a collaborative multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting with his respiratory colleagues at Royal Brompton Hospital, to improve the care of patients with pulmonary fibrosis at ASPH.
In addition, Dr Sharma has set up local MDTs to coordinate and improve the care for patients with diagnoses such as TB and sleep apnoea.
As the lead for Respiratory Medicine at ASPH, he led the departmental response to the Covid-19 pandemic and has developed expertise in acute as well as Chronic/Long Covid. He led the development of the NHS Trust’s Covid management guidelines, with regular updates during the ongoing pandemic.
He was involved in the development of a novel ambulatory management pathway for Covid patients, which was commended by NHSE and subsequently adopted across Surrey’s primary care services during the second and third waves of the pandemic.
Awards and Prizes
Dr Sharma receivedClinical Excellence awards in 2017 for the development of an Ambulatory Pleural Unit and in 2020 for leading the service development for the Covid-19 pandemic at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital.
Current Practice
Dr Sharma is the Clinical Lead for Respiratory Medicine in NHS Surrey Heartlands. He works closely with all the acute trusts as well as primary care in Surrey to develop respiratory services in line with national NHS priorities. One of his ongoing projects is to implement Targeted Lung Health Checks throughout Surrey Heartlands for early diagnosis of lung cancer.
He is based at the St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, where he has led the development of Ambulatory Pleural Services, Sleep and CPAP clinic services. He is currently leading on Interstitial Lung Disease and TB.
Dr Sharma is an integral part of lung cancer MDT set up works closely with the Thoracic Surgery team at University College of London and St George’s Hospital. He has close links with the regional cancer unit such as St Luke's at Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guilford.
He is also passionate about medical education and is the departmental lead for undergraduate education. He is educational as well as clinical supervisor to a range of trainee junior doctors. He regularly teaches medical students from Imperial College, St George's Medical School and the University of Southampton, as well as also providing educational talks to junior doctors as well as local GPs.
Clinical Interests
- Chronic Cough
- Long Covid
- Breathlessness
- Asthma
- COPD
- Bronchiectasis
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Lung cancer
- Bronchoscopy
- EBUS and Medical Thoracoscopy
- Sleep apnoea
- TB
- Pneumonia
- Recurrent chest infections
- Pleural effusion.
Professional Memberships
- MDU
- Royal College of Physicians
