Mr Rasheed Zakaria PhD, FRCS(SN), MA, BMBCh

Personal Statement

I am currently a consultant neurosurgeon at the Walton Centre (profile here) and an early stage researcher focusing on brain tumours. I read medical sciences and neuroscience at the University of Cambridge before studying clinical medicine at Oxford University and undertaking foundation clinical training in London. I have trained for 8 years a specialist in neurosurgery in Liverpool and at MDAnderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas subspecialising in brain and spine tumours. I took time out of my surgical training to complete a full-time PhD here in Liverpool, investigating brain metastasis invasion for which I was funded by the Medical Research Council. I was awarded the British Neuro-Oncology Society's Young Researcher of the Year award for this work and went on to secure funding for a clinical study in brain metastases and immunotherapy from Cancer Research UK and the Royal College of Surgeons. My aspiration is to improve the lives of patients with brain tumours.