Professor Antonio Belli MD, FRCS, FRCS (SN)

• Fellowship in Surgical Neurology (FRCS SN), 2004
• Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Glasgow (FRCS), 1997
• MD (Reactive Oxygen Species damage in brain ischaemia and reperfusion) – Department of Neurosciences, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, 1992
• Degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery (summa cum laude) – University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, 1990

Professor Belli is a Professor of Trauma Neurosurgery and Director of the Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (SRMCR) based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. The SRMRC is a leading centre for trauma research and was founded in 2011 with £20M grant from NIHR, MoD, the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham. He heads the neurotrauma research theme, which carries out translational research on traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. He is also a practising neurosurgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he leads the Neurotrauma service comprised of a formidable team of doctors, nurses and therapists.

• Tony has set up and leads the new MSc course in Trauma Sciences at the University of Birmingham. This is the first on-site MSc course in trauma in the UK and one of just a handful available in this field worldwide. In this programme he also leads the Neurotrauma module.
• Tony also continues to be involved in the regular teaching of medical, BMedSc and Sports and Excercise Science students. He has contributed to teaching at other institutions by invitation; for example, the Nursing Degree at City University, the Neurotrauma Course at Royal College of Surgeons (where I am a regular faculty member) and MSc courses at Queen Mary University London.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas please contact Tony Belli directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

For a full list of available Doctoral Research opportunities, please visit our Doctoral Research programme listings.

Professor Belli’s research interest is in neurobiochemistry and neuromonitoring of acute brain injury. A particular focus is brain metabolism following mild and severe traumatic brain injury and how this relates to the long-term outcome and the risk of early neurogenerative conditions. Many of his current studies involve cross-disciplinary collaborations with engineering, chemistry, computing science and IT.

Working with cerebral microdialysis, another area of interest is early markers of tissue damage for the prevention of secondary injury after trauma and subarachnoid haemorrhage, patient stratification and drug discovery.

He is the principal or chief investigator of several acute brain injury studies, including international multicentre trials.

• Principal Investigator for the Golden HOur for STroke (GHoST) study
• Director of NIHR Health Protection Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response
• Director of NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (Trauma Research)
• Theme Lead of the NIHR Healthcare Technology Cooperative on Trauma Management
• Module Editor for Neurosurgery for eLearning for Health Care (Royal College of Surgeons of England and Department of Health)
• Member of the Leadership Committee for Trauma and Critical Care of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies
• Independent Member of the Expert Panel on Concussion and Head Injury of the Football Association and Rugby Football Union
• Advisor on concussion to the England Cricket Board, British Basketball and GB Rowing
• Trustee of Headway (Brain Injury charity) and of the Midlands Neuroscience Training and Research Fund
• Member of the Trauma Group of the British Society of Neurological Surgeons
• External Reviewer for the French National Research Agency
• Ad hoc reviewer for the EPSRC, MRC, NIHR and Wellcome Trust