Summary
Qualifications: PgC HBE BSc MBBS PhD DIC
Fellow: FRCS (T&O) FEBOT FICR FIET FRSA FRSPH SICOT
Member: MCCT MFST MIScT MSET
Chartered status: CSci
Affiliations: BOA GMC Sigma XI
Alumni: AICSM OMT SGUL
Positions: Home Fellow, Education & Careers Committee - British Orthopaedic Association / Honorary Research fellow & Senior Clinical Teacher - Imperial College London
TRIPLE BOARD CERTIFIED IN TRAUMA & ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY; POST-CCT PERIPHERAL NERVE & MUSCULOSKELETAL SURGERY FELLOW; CHARTERED SCIENTIST, AUTHOR / CHIEF-EDITOR, EDUCATOR, TECHNOLOGIST, COACH, ENTREPRENEUR & PHILANTHROPIST
Education Dr Sugand graduated from Imperial College London with a BSc (Hons) in Surgery and Anaesthesia and MBBS, before completing his a Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare and Biomedical Education (PGCert HBE) from St George's University London. He was awarded a PhD by the Department of Surgery & Cancer at Imperial College London, conducting cutting-edge research in trauma simulation to train future surgeons using multimedia solutions in order to uphold patient safety as a priority.
Training Having completed a competitive Academic Foundation Programme in South London, which is offered only to 5% of graduates nationally, he completed his core surgical training in South and East London before becoming a Trauma & Orthopaedic Specialist Trainee on the renowned North West London rotation. He was also an Honorary Research Assistant and an Anatomy Instructor at St George's University Hospital, London. His clinical training has consisted of numerous specialities in both Medicine and Surgery including General Surgery, Acute and Critical Care Medicine. He has additionally gained experience in Traumatology, Plastic Surgery and Emergency Medicine in two London Major Trauma Centres over 4 years (St Mary's and St George's hospitals). Dr Sugand has been trained in all Orthopaedic elective and trauma subspecialties and has been awarded his Certification of Completion of Training prior to becoming the Peripheral Nerve Injury Fellow at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital:
| Subspeciality | NHS Trust |
| Peripheral Nerve Injuries |
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital |
| Paediatric orthopaedics focusing on soft tissue knee pathology |
Imperial College Healthcare |
| Foot and Ankle |
London North West University Healthcare |
| Spine |
Wexham Park |
| Hand & Wrist |
The Hillingdon Hospitals, London North West University Healthcare, Homerton University Trust |
| Hips |
The Hillingdon Hospitals, London North West University Healthcare, Wexham Park |
| Revision Hips |
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital |
| Knees including Joint Reconstruction |
Imperial College Healthcare, Wexham Park, London North West University Healthcare, The Hillingdon Hospitals |
| Revision knees |
Imperial College Healthcare, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital |
| Shoulder & Elbow |
The Hillingdon Hospitals, London North West University Healthcare |
| Major trauma - exposure and training in frames, Ex/InFix, pelvic, acetabular and rib fracture fixation, polytrauma, open fractures and OrthoPlastics |
St Mary's (Paddington) and St George's (Tooting) hospitals - Major Trauma Centres |
| Miscellaneous: Amputations, Bone & Prosthetic Joint Infection, MDT |
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, St Mary's, St George's, The Hillingdon Hospitals, London North West University Healthcare |
Honours, prizes & awards Dr Sugand was awarded the university gold medal for outstanding contribution at Imperial College London. As an Academic Foundation Programme doctor, he was awarded outstanding contribution to the South Thames Foundation School. His PhD projects have been awarded best prize in 2014 at the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) and the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) conferences. He was awarded the Excellence in Education prize for Surgical and Anatomy Division as voted by medical students and peers at St George's Hospital, London. Since 2018, he has been awarded the Lipmann-Kessel Prize for one of the best research presentations on the NW London rotation, possibly becoming the first in its history to be awarded in three consecutive years. For his dedication to the field of medical education at Imperial College, Dr Sugand's biography has been featured in the renowned Marquis Who’s Who in the World encyclopaedia since 2013.
Memberships & Fellowships While representing the Merchant Taylors' Company, he became a Freeman to the City of London Corporation. He is an alumnus of Merchant Taylors' (OMT), St George's University London (SGUL) and Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM). Dr Sugand has also been awarded the following:
Membership: Faculty of Surgical Trainers, Chartered College of Teaching, the Society for Education and Training, and the Institute of Science and Technology
Fellowship: Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), European Board of Orthopaedics & Traumatology (EBOT), International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT), Institute of Clinical Research, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Institution of Engineering and Technology, and Royal Society of Public Health
He has obtained Chartered Scientist status, while being awarded full membership to the prestigious Sigma Xi, the oldest Scientific Research Honour Society of over 125 years and the membership to over 200 Nobel Laureates. Dr Sugand is a member of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) and is on the General Medical Council register.
Publications Dr Sugand has achieved a h-index of 15, has been credited in over 55 peer-reviewed publications in international PubMed-indexed journals, has had over 26000 reads of his research on ResearchGate (with a Research Interest Score higher than 95% of all members), and delivered over 70 conference presentations globally. His publication, the 'Anatomy of anatomy: a review of its modernisation', has been the most downloaded and cited paper of Anatomical Sciences Education journal (US) since its publication in 2010 with over 1070 citations to date. He led a research team that was the first to validate the VR DHS simulator and the popular Touch Surgery Intramedullary Femoral Nailing modules after creating them which has been viewed and used by over 80,000 people from every corner of the world. He has been asked to present his work at hallmark conferences on most continents including the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) and other prestigious international meetings with conference proceedings being published in British Medical Journal related publications, British Journal of Surgery and many more. Dr Sugand is also an honorary editor for 3 journals, a reviewer for 9 PubMed journals as well as the NIHR CCF.
Books In 2013, his first two books published. Medical School: an Applicant’s Guide and Medical School: an Undergraduate’s Guide became available as the first of its kind to promote medical fields as careers for both prospective and current medical students. Furthermore, Dr Sugand is chief editor of the ABC of Orthopaedics & Trauma (Wiley-Blackwell) and the Oxford Handbook for Medical School (Oxford University Press) which are a first of their kind and will be exciting additions to the international bestselling series. These books have been commercialised on an international scale. His latest commissioned textbooks are titled '50 Studies Every Orthopaedic Surgeon Should Know' (Oxford University Press) followed by 'FRCS Viva Strategies: Trauma and Orthopaedics' (Wiley), both due in 2024.
Keynote Speaker/Public engagement Dr Sugand has strived to bring his work in improving surgical training to the public. He has represented the department and Imperial College at the prestigious equivalent to TedMed: Imagining the Future of Medicine as the keynote speaker at the Hive conference on training safer trauma surgeons of the future (2014). He was also the keynote speaker at the annual national Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) conference at the Royal Society of Medicine (2015). Moreover, Dr Sugand has presented at the Royal College of Surgeons of England exhibitions (Anatomy of an Athlete Exhibition and Open Surgery) in 2013 as well as Imperial’s own Fringe and Public & Science festivals (2013/2014). He was the Moderator and Chair of the International Conference of Anatomy & Physiology, Birmingham (2016). Due to popular demand, he was invited to speak on his work at the 2018 and 2020 British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) annual conference (link 1, link 2, link 3). His BOA lectures and debates can be found here.
Media attention Dr Sugand founded the Holography-Assisted Medical Lecturing & E-Teaching (HAMLET) collaboration which was the first to bring interactive dynamic virtual reality 3D holograms into the lecture theatres, thus bringing medical education into the 21st century. His interview was featured on the BBC, covered by popular media in over 10 countries as well as in Wired magazine in 2013. International coverage of his work were featured in Brazilian BBC Brasil, Spanish La Razon, Portuguese Expresso, Australian Daily Telegraph to name a few. Videos of his work can be found on Youtube (clip 1, clip 2) and Mashable.
Dr Sugand was the main voice for the hit Channel 4 television show '24 hours in A&E' aired on 3/2/16 (series 10, episode 16) where he explained his passion and motivation to pursue a career as a surgeon. His dedicated YouTube channel showcasing his projects and lectures can be viewed here.
Leadership Dr Sugand has been in leadership roles since before entering medical school. Whilst at medical school, he was the elected year representative as well as a founding member of the Imperial College Surgical Society and the Imperial College Fitness Society. He co-founded the Imperial College chapter of Friends of Medicins Sans Frontieres. He was also one of the longest serving committee members on the Student Section at the Royal Society of Medicine. After graduating, Dr Sugand became the elected Representative for South Thames Foundation School Board Deanery (2 years), UK Foundation Programme Office and the London/KSS Deanery Quality Management Committee. He was also a Foundation Quality Assurance Member for visits to King’s College Hospital and St Helier’s & Epsom hospitals.
Ambassadorial roles While at medical school, Dr Sugand represented his university internationally as the British representative for the Global Health Summit hosted by Americans for Informed Democracy, and nationally on the Student Volunteering England and Royal Society of Medicine committee organising countless events for pupils, professionals and the public. He is a student surgical skills tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons and sat on the AO Educational Strategy Committee as an Advisor (2016). He was appointed as a Home Fellow on the Education and Careers Committee for the British Orthopaedic Association (2023).
Grants Dr Sugand has been awarded over £15k in educational scholarships as a medical student. His latest successful grant which he co-led was for £25k from the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to revolutionise orthopaedic trauma simulation with the use of novel digital fluoroscopy (FluoroSim). This has now been published in several journals including JBJS. London Postgraduate School of Surgery have donated nearly £10k to his national intramedullary nailing simulation course which was a first of its kind and has been running successfully for 5 years. He was also awarded full funding for his PhD as well as additional £30k for development of his educational technology.
Research supervision Dr Sugand has been the day-to-day supervisor for seven BSc, MSc and MD candidates (since 2013). Almost all of his students have obtained either a 1st class or a merit/distinction. His medical students have been awarded top prizes for best BSc project in 2015 and 2017 which was a huge achievement for the department. This was a testament of Dr Sugand's efforts to engage with the ICSM students frequently and tirelessly encouraging them to reach their maximum potential.
Course Organiser Dr Sugand has co-led numerous successful national educational seminars and events on behalf of the department as well as helping to reform the ICSM External Fixation course as part of the BSc curriculum (2014). He is a faculty member for the basic arthroscopy skills course, FRCS revision course and led the first national intramedullary nailing course using the Imperial Igloo and distributive interactive simulation which has also been highlighted in mass media. It is currently in its fifth year and has proven to be popular with national trainees. He was on the national organising committees for the SICOT Trainee 20th Conference (2015) and MSk MRI: Anatomy, Radiology and Arthroscopy seminar at the Royal Society of Medicine (2014).
University faculty and lectures Dr Sugand is a Senior Clinical Teacher at Imperial College London and was a Clinical Educator at Brunel Medical School for his contribution to educational activities. He is a Faculty Convenor for Trauma and Orthopaedic modules for Undergraduate Medicine, BSc in Surgery & Anaesthesia and MSc in Surgical Innovation at Imperial College School of Medicine. He has lectured on introduction to clinical surgery, anaesthesia, the role of patient safety, research governance and critical appraisal in Orthopaedics, and the role of simulation in surgery using educational technology.
Charity & volunteering Dr Sugand continues to contribute to charitable causes in the name of medical education too. In 2014, he founded the UK Medical Education Outreach Scheme (UK MEdOS) in which all proceeds from the sale of his Medical School series books went into free printing and distribution to underprivileged secondary schools nationwide, especially those without career advice facilities. Simultaneously, he is leading a national lecturing tour within these schools delivered by doctors, nurses, scientists and allied healthcare professionals. At university, he created a concept for a health awareness outreach scheme, now supported by NHS Change 4 Life. He was selected out of thousands of applicants to act as a Team Liaison for Wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics. In his spare time, he used to be an English & Citizenship Tutor at Brixton Refugee Council and a Teaching Assistant in a primary school in Pimlico. Dr Sugand is the co-founder and Chairperson of the Unlock Biology challenge which is a national outreach and widening participation programme to cultivate critical-thinking skills in school-aged biology students with the potential to motivate them to pursue biological sciences at university as well as professional careers.
Contribution during COVID-19 pandemic Dr Sugand co-founded and co-led the COVERT (COVid-19 Emergency/Elective Related Trauma & orthopaedics) Collaborative (@CovertCollab) in response to the unprecedented global health crisis. His team is part of the COVID Research Group and it is the only British orthopaedic collaborative to be endorsed by the Royal College of Surgeons. This collaborative was the first to publish on the impact of COVID on acute orthopaedic trauma referrals and operative case mix within the UK in a PubMed/MedLine-indexed publication. The first cycle recruited just under 5,000 clinical encounters with subsequent cycles on the way. 19 publications on the topic have been credited to Dr Sugand in collaboration with his team and other international initiatives. The COVERT Collaborative also secured exclusive representation of the T&O arm of PanSurg to lead on researching the impact of the pandemic on international clinical practice as well as contributing to the compilation of a risk prediction tool, known as PREDICT-ORTHO. Dr Sugand was invited to be a panellist at the BOTA/BOA Congress 2020 on 'Training after COVID-19' where he discussed his extensive work on educational technology and simulation as well as the epidemiological data published from his COVERT Collaborative. He was interviewed by Incision UK on his work on the pandemic on World Trauma Day 2020.
Initiatives Dr Sugand has co-founded and co-led the following collaboratives, outreach and widening participation programmes: HAMLET (Holography-Assisted Medical Lecturing & E-Teaching), UK MEdOS (Medical Education Outreach Scheme), COVERT (COVid Emergency-Related Trauma & orthopaedics) Collaborative, Unlock Biology challenge, and PARESIS (Peripheral nerve injury Assessment, Research, Education, Surgical International Symposium).
Selected Publications
Books
Sugand K, Berry M, Yusuf I, et al., 2019, Oxford Handbook for Medical School, Oxford University Press, USA, ISBN:9780199681907