Professor Roger Kirby becomes President of the Royal Society of Medicine

On Tuesday 28 July 2020, Professor Roger Kirby was inaugurated as President of the Royal Society of Medicine. He takes over from Professor Sir Simon Wessely and will hold office for three years.

Professor Roger Kirby is a prostate surgeon with over 40 years’ experience in the NHS and private practice. Graduating from Cambridge University in 1975, Roger trained at the Middlesex Hospital and was a consultant urologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.

He went on to become one of the first urologists in the UK to perform open radical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancer and to subsequently introduce the da Vinci robot to facilitate that procedure. He has also been instrumental in founding two charities - Prostate Research Campaign UK (now Prostate Cancer UK) and The Urology Foundation (TUF) - and several journals including Trends in Urology and Men’s Health.

Speaking at the time of his inauguration, Professor Kirby said: “For me the RSM has been central to my career from a very early stage. I very much doubt I would have been appointed to my first consultant post at St Bartholomew’s Hospital without the networking opportunities afforded by the Urology Section meetings at No. 1 Wimpole Street and at RSM winter meetings.”

Outlining his vision for his presidency, Professor Kirby said: “Sir Simon Wessely passes the baton to me as President of the RSM in the midst of a period of tumultuous change. It is clear that we have at least four urgent priorities: to achieve the financial sustainability of the organisation through a range of measures including how we use No. 1 Wimpole Street; to develop the scope, content and delivery of education; to grow our membership among new audiences both here in the UK and abroad; and to embrace and champion diversity throughout the RSM.

I look forward to helping transform the RSM into the thriving and successful institution that it really needs to be for a secure future.”

Read Professor Roger Kirby’s full biography.

Follow Roger’s Twitter account: @RogerKirby12.