Ashok Kar, B.A (Hons), M.B B.Chir, M.A (Cantab), F.R.C.S (C-Th)

I am a Substantive Consultant Thoracic Surgeon working at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, having completed my UK Specialist Training in Cardiothoracic Surgery (CCT).  I am on the GMC Specialist Register in cardiothoracic surgery (2022 - present).

I am passionate about addressing health inequality in the provision of care for patients with lung cancer and COPD.

My main clinical interests are in Minimal Access Thoracic Surgery for Lung Cancer including VATS and Robotic Surgery (RATS), along with Lung Volume Reduction Surgery.

I am hoping to develop further, my sub-specialty interest is in Robotic Interventional Bronchoscopy and Ablation and currently perform Navigational Bronchoscopy.

Outside daily clinical activities, I have various leadership roles including administrative responsibilities for middle grade doctors/residents within my department, co-leading the development of a robotic programme at the Northern General Hospital, supervising BSc studnets at the University of Sheffield and am a Council Member for the Royal Society of Medicine Cardiothoracic Section. I have formal roles in teaching and supervising medical students, junior/foundation doctors and surgical trainees and am invited regularly to teach on regional and national courses.

I was appointed to a National Training Number (NTN) in 2014 and pursued my specialist training in London at St Bartholomew's, St George's and Guy's Hospital, London, after working at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (2013-14). I have worked as an Interim Consultant at St George's Hospital during my training 

 I pursued a Robotic Thoracic Surgery Fellowship in Dublin, Ireland as part of a scholarship awarded by the UK Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS) and Ethicon (Johnson and Johnson) in 2022-23.

I was also awarded a Royal College of Surgeons, UK-US Fulbright Scholarship (2021-22) and took time out of clinical training (August – November 2021) to pursue translational research at Stanford University, investigating the role of circulating tumour DNA in lung cancer patients undergoing surgical resection.

As a practising surgeon, my goal is to pursue surgical innovation in technology and integrate this with our evolving understanding of the fundamental basic science within oncology.