John Findlay

I am a consultant abdominal wall and benign upper gastrointestinal surgeon, based clinically in North Devon and academically in Exeter.

I went to university in Nottingham, where I was awarded a first class honours BMedSci in 2005 with research in molecular genetics, and BMBS with honours in 2007. I trained in surgery in Oxford, where I undertook my doctoral research in genomic and clinical informatics at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and the Department of Oncology, receiving my PhD from the University of Nottingham. This involved genome wide association analysis of variants and pathways associated with Barrett's oesophagus and progression to dysplasia and oesophageal adenocarcinoma, and whole exome sequencing and clonal analysis of oesophageal cancer before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.  My clinical informatics incorporated decision theory and utility into oesophageal cancer staging, developing personalised staging algorithms and predicting therapy response using multimodal models, including metrics of metabolic response to chemotherapy on PET-CT.

After my PhD I continued as an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Surgery, NIHR Oxford BRC Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Oesophagogastric Informatics, and Lecturer in Clinical Medicine at Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford.

I moved to North Devon as a consultant surgeon in 2019, and developed an interest in complex abdominal wall surgery (particularly incisional and robotic hernia surgery) and chronic post-hernia surgery pain, for which North Devon provides a tertiary referral service. In 2021 I was awarded Fellowship of the European Board of Surgery in Abdominal Wall Surgery (awarded first place). I worked with colleagues at the British Hernia Society to help establish the BHS Registry as a subcomittee member and Chief Investigator, and since 2023 have served as Director of Science for the BHS.

In 2023 I received an NIHR Exeter BRC Senior Investigator Fellowship. My research interests are focussed on improving outcomes after abdominal wall surgery, particularly in terms of pain and function.