Professor Aneel Bhangu MBChB, PhD, FRCS

• FRCS, 2017
• PhD, Imperial College London, 2014
• MRCS, 2008
• MBChB, University Of Birmingham, 2004

Aneel Bhangu is Professor of Surgery at the University of Birmingham and Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at University Hospitals Birmingham. His clinical practice covers colorectal cancer, common proctological problems, and a range of general surgical conditions.

Aneel’s research spans surgery both in the NHS and around the world, focusing on improving surgical systems, running large prospective cohort studies, and leading pragmatic randomised trials to improve patient outcomes. He combines leadership, data science, implementation science, economic modelling, and horizon scanning to lead large teams and communicate science to stakeholders.

With over 350 peer-reviewed research publications, Aneel’s h-index is 65. His research is of public interest and has been covered by major media in 110 countries, including the Economist and major print newspapers. His leadership book on High Performance Research Teams is available here: https://bit.ly/4ptWLkp

He was Global Chief Investigator of the COVIDSurg Collaborative, which coordinated an international research response on surgery during the COVID‑19 era and delivered multiple high‑impact publications, including in The Lancet. Impact analysis has shown this saved at least 88,000 lives around the world, and he went on to give verbal evidence to the colorectal cancer pillar of the UK’s Covid-19 Public Inquiry. He was a founding member of the GlobalSurg Collaborative, submitted the first grant application for the Global Surgery Unit, and is a long-standing member of the Executive Committee of the NIHR Global Health Unit on Global Surgery.

Aneel’s positions held include:

• Director, NIHR Global Surgery Unit (2026-)
• Director, NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research on Environmentally Sustainable Surgery (2023-2027)
• Director, NIHR Global Health Research Group on Environmentally Sustainable Hospitals (2024-2028)
• Executive Committee member, NIHR Global Health Unit on Global Surgery (2017-present).
• Expert Witness (written and verbal), Colorectal Cancer Pillar of the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry (2023-2024)
• Editor-in-Chief Impact Journals group (2023-present)
• COVIDSurg Global Chief Investigator (2020-2024)
• Trainer of the Year, Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland & Dukes’ Club (2022)

 

Aneel’s full online CV can be found at found at www.aneelbhangu.co.uk

Aneel supervises intercalating students and led the national GRANULE initiative on recruiting to randomised trials, with an NIHR online course derived from workshops. Co‑founder and senior member of the STARSurg student research network, mentoring national cohort studies.

Aneel leads an active PhD fellow programme for surgical trainees and allied health professionals who want to improve surgical systems and outcomes. Fellows join a methods-led environment running international cohorts and pragmatic trials, with scope to lead studies on peri-operative outcomes, infection and AMR, sustainability, equity and data-driven risk prediction. Supervision is tailored and multi-disciplinary, with access to rich datasets, collaborator networks across the UK and partner hospitals overseas, and formal training in epidemiology, statistics, implementation science and research integrity/GCP. We expect first-author outputs, timely thesis completion and clear next-step plans into postdoctoral or clinical academic roles. Ambitious candidates are invited to get in touch with a one-page outline and CV; funded and self-funded routes are considered.

Research interests

• Robotic surgery: Evaluation of adoption, learning curves and patient outcomes in colorectal and general surgery; cost-effectiveness and equity of access across different health systems.
• Global surgery: Multicountry networks delivering rapid, high-quality evidence to improve safety, access and outcomes, with genuine partnership models in LMICs.
• Peri-operative outcomes: Risk prediction, optimisation and recovery pathways; development and validation of pragmatic tools that translate to frontline practice.
• Surgical site infection and AMR: Trials and cohorts targeting SSI reduction, antimicrobial stewardship and context-specific prevention bundles.
• Colorectal cancer: Pathways from diagnosis to survivorship; variation in outcomes and implementation of best practice across settings.
• Surgical systems and sustainability: Greener surgery, resource use and carbon accounting; system redesign to improve resilience, equity and quality.
• Trials in LMIC settings: Co-designed, randomised and observational studies tailored to local constraints, with capacity-building and fair authorship.

Current projects and collaborations

• NIHR Global Health Unit programmes (FALCON, CHEETAH, PENGUIN): Large, pragmatic trials and cohorts focused on SSI prevention, wound management and peri-operative care; roles include trial design, network leadership, analysis oversight and dissemination.
• COVIDSurg and follow-on analyses: International datasets informing timing of surgery, peri-operative risk after SARS-CoV-2, service recovery and preparedness for future shocks.
• Greener Surgery and health-system sustainability: Measurement of environmental footprints, low-waste pathways and scalable interventions that align quality, cost and carbon.

Chief Investigator:

• ROCSS: Reinforcement of Closure of Stoma Site. A randomised controlled trial of reinforcement of closure of stoma site using a biological mesh.
• CHEETAH: ClustEr randomisEd Trial of sterile glove and instrument change at the time of wound closure to reduce surgical site infection 

Trial Management Group Member:

• FALCON: Pragmatic multicentre FActorial randomised controlled triaL testing measures to reduCe surgical site infection in low and middle income couNtries
• PENGUIN
• ROSSINI-2: Reduction of Surgical Site Infection using a Novel Intervention 2

Membership of Committees:

• Cohort Studies Committee of the European Society of Coloproctology

Previous Membership of Committees:

• British Journal of Surgery Editorial Assistant (2018-19)
• West Midlands Research Collaborative (2008-18)
• STARSurg steering committee (2013-17)

Membership of Societies:

• Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland
• European Society of Coloproctology