Jim Higginson

Clinical Doctoral Fellow

Imperial College London

Biography

Jim Higginson is a higher surgical trainee in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, currently undertaking a PhD at Imperial College London. His project will assess the use of phenomic signatures to evaluate oncological margins during transoral robotic surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

He also has research interests in head and neck osteosarcoma, reconstruction and rehabilitation of head and neck defects, and the interplay between metabolomics and transcriptomics in head and neck cancer.

Interests

Head and Neck Cancer
Oncophenomics
Free flap reconstruction

Education

PhD in Head and Neck Oncophenomics, 2022
Imperial College London
BDS, 2015
Newcastle University
MB BChir, 2008
University of Cambridge
MA(Cantab) --- Neuroscience, 2005
University of Cambridge

Skills

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Implant Surgery

Python

R

Statistics

Photography

Experience

Clinical Doctoral Fellow

Imperial College London

Aug 2019 – Present

Jim is currently working on ways to develop an integrated, chemically aware surgical robot, with the ability to detect cancer margins by the use of intraoperative mass spectrometry and linear discriminant analysis on the vapour generated by the robotic surgical electrocautery. This will form the basis of his PhD thesis.

Academic Clinical Fellow—Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

University of Birmingham

Aug 2016 – Aug 2019 Birmingham

A prestigious joint clinical and academic training programme with a national training number in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Research training and experience was at the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education (InHANSE), whilst surgical training was at University Hospitals Birmingham and the Royal Worcestershire Hospital.

Trust Doctor—Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

City Hospitals Sunderland

Aug 2015 – Aug 2016 Sunderland

A busy district general hospital, with substantial hands on experience in dento-alveolar, trauma and skin cancer surgery. Emergency experience on the first on-call rota.

Trust Doctor—Emergency Medicine

South Tyneside District Hospital

Aug 2011 – Aug 2015 South Shields

Throughout my dental degree, I continued to maintain and develop my general medical skill, working as a middle grade in a busy emergency department, with significant clinical and managerial responsibility.

Core Surgical Trainee

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals

Aug 2010 – Aug 2011 Hull

My basic surgical training was undertaken at Hull Royal Infirmary and the nearby Castle Hill Hospital. In this teaching hospital setting, I undertook training in a wide variety of general surgical and otorhinolaryngology procedures, as well as preparing the research project to be undertaken during my dental degree.

Foundation Programme Trainee

City Hospitals Sunderland

Aug 2008 – Aug 2010 Sunderland

My foundation medical training was in Sunderland, where I gained experience of general, breast and vascular surgery, as well as acute medicine, geriatric medicine, general practice, radiology and haematology. In my second year I passed the MRCS.

Projects

NCRI Trainee Member

I have been appointed as a trainee member of the National Cancer Research Institute Head and Neck Cancer group. Through my secondment …

Featured Publications

Daniele Borsetto, James A Higginson, Adil Aslam, Laith Al-Qamachi, Jagtar Dhanda, Gino Marioni, Sebastiano Franchella, Annachiara Frigo, Prav Praveen, Tim Martin, Sat Parmar, Paul Nankivell

2018 Journal of oral pathology & medicine : official publication of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and the American Academy of Oral Pathology

Factors affecting prognosis in locoregional recurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Recurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (rOSCC) after primary treatment is associated with poor survival outcomes. Salvage treatment with further surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy has high morbidity, making patient selection crucial. However, in the recurrence setting, reliable stratification data are scarce. Decision-making in this context is consequently complex. We investigated factors influencing overall survival after rOSCC. METHODS Retrospective cohort study of patients with rOSCC (n = 83) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, UK between 2006 and 2016. Associations with overall survival were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses to identify important clinical prognostic indicators. RESULTS Overall survival at 1 year was 32.5% and at 5 years was 18.1% after a median follow-up of 7.4 months. Multivariate analysis identified four independent predictors of overall survival following rOSCC: size of primary tumour (HR 2.077; 95% CI 1.034-4.172), extent of recurrent disease (HR 3.286; 95% CI 1.545-6.991), history of moderate alcohol consumption (HR 0.351; 95% CI 0.162-0.763), and close or positive margins at primary resection (HR 1.955; 95% CI 1.063-3.595). CONCLUSIONS We identified four key factors that help prognostication and risk stratification of rOSCC. Given the high morbidity associated with salvage treatment, we recommend that the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and the patient weigh these factors carefully when considering further treatment. Further investigation of the biology underlying these oncophenotypes may contribute to better patient stratification.

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