Mr Sanjay Sharma is a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon at University Hospital Southampton and the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester. He trained at King’s College London and St Bartholomew’s Hospital to achieve his dual qualification status. Sanjay was awarded his doctorate in medicine in 2008 for his work on the genetics of cancer growth, and he consolidated his interest in facial reconstructive and aesthetic surgery at the world renowned Boston Facial Plastic Surgery and Facial Nerve Centre. 

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Experience

Mr Sharma is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who joined the Trust in 2008. He is a core member of the head and neck and specialist skin cancer multidisciplinary teams. His work involves many aspects of facial reconstructive surgery and operations for skin cancer and melanoma. He set up the new head and neck sentinel lymph node biopsy service, which has world class success rates. 

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Mr Sharma specialises in facial reconstructive surgery for patients who've had head and neck cancers, skin malignancy or traumatic injury. The facial plastic reconstructive service is composed of a skilled and experienced team able to carry out complex surgery for many diseases. It is now one of the largest units in the south of England and has success rates comparable to the leading units in the world. Most of Mr Sharma's work involves reconstructing areas of the head and neck from other parts of the body, using a technique called free tissue transfer.

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He enjoys working as part of a large team, regularly operating with colleagues from neurosurgery, oculoplastics and ear, nose and throat to achieve the best outcomes for patients.

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Mr Sharma lectures General Dental Practitioners on a wide range of topics and acts as Faculty on courses on dentoalveolar surgery and implants.

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Mr Sharma runs masterclasses in facial plastic surgery reconstruction for postgraduate surgical students, and is patron of the Southampton Surgical Society for medical undergraduates.

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Key achievements

• Transformation of the head and neck reconstructive service at UHS

• Setting up the head and neck sentinel node biopsy service for melanoma patients

• Helping to create the Wessex Facial Nerve Centre for patients with facial paralysis

Awards and prizes

• BAOMS fellowship grant

• Wellcome Foundation international fellowship

• Lord Dowding Fund research grant

• Rosetrees Foundation Research Grant

Research

Mr Sharma's research interests include:

• adipose and gingival mesenchymal stem cell tissue engineering in head and neck reconstruction – joint project with the University of Southampton's bone and joint research department (Prof. Richard Oreffo and Prof. Sylvia Pender)

• the efficacy of sentinel lymph node biopsy in head and neck melanoma

• resilience in head and neck cancer patients. 

• circulating tumour DNA for monitoring of recurrent disease

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He is currently the acting supervisor for 2 PhD research scientists.

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His teaching interests include both undergraduate and postgraduate lectures, and he has set up the new cadaveric dissection masterclass courses at the University of Southampton's School of Medicine for GDPs and surgical trainees. He has over 50 peer reviewed publications, has supervised BMedSci, Master's and PhD students and is actively involved in major stem cell tissue engineering programmes at the University of Southampton.