Ian Pople MD

Ian is a graduate of the University of Sheffield, UK and undertook his neurosurgical training in Leeds, London (Great Ormond Street Hospital) and Bristol prior to a fellowship in Paediatric Neurosurgery at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis USA. Since 1995 he has been an attending neurosurgeon in Bristol, UK at the Frenchay Hospital, Southmead Hospital and the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

During this period he has maintained his reseach interest in childhood hydrocephalus and was a Senior Clinical Lecturer at University of Bristol. In 1998 Ian was appointed Training Programme Director for the South West Neurosurgical Training Scheme and in 1999 he became Chair of the Local Research Ethics Committee. In 2004 he was appointed Clinical Director of Neurosciences at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and from 2009-2011 he chaired the Standards Working Party of the NHS Commissioning Group Safe & Sustainable Pediatric Neurosurgery Services Review, which introduced a set of minimum outcome standards for pediatric neurosurgical services in England. This work was carried on after he was appointed Chair of the national Pediatric Neurosciences Clinical Reference Group (NHS England) from 2012-2016 and during this period he steered the national development of SDR surgery for spasticity and further development of children’s epilepsy surgery in England. Ian was Lead Pediatric Neurosurgeon in Bristol for 20 years during the very complex process of centralizing specialized children’s services within Bristol and he has led the development of the Epilepsy Surgery and SDR services for Children in Bristol.

Ian’s vision for Pediatric Neurosurgery Services in Qatar involves the development of a safe and sustainable emergency neurosurgery service which surpasses the minimum standards set in recent UK NHS neuro and trauma reviews, whilst at the same time creating world class surgical programmes in pediatric epilepsy and spasticity surgery for lower limb spasticity. He would also like to help develop and support the clinical and research elements of other important services such as craniofacial, spinal and neuro-oncology services.