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Professor Jag Dhanda

Professor Jag Dhanda (BSc (Hons) BDS MBBS MFDSRCS MRCS FRCS PhD)

Honorary Professor of Surgery
E: jagtar.dhanda@nhs.net

Areas of expertise: Head and Neck Ablation and Reconstruction, Dental Implants and Virtual Reality in Medicine and Surgery, Extended Reality in Surgical Education

Research areas: Extended Reality in Medical and Surgical Training and Global Health, Translational Research in Molecular Oncology and Microbiomics

Other relevant positions: Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial/Head and Neck Surgeon, Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead and Brighton and Sussex University Hospital

Twitter handle: @jagdhanda1

Biography

Professor Jag Dhanda is a dual qualified oral and maxillofacial surgeon with a clinical specialty interest in head and neck cancer ablation and reconstruction. He studied dentistry and a BSc (Hons) in Cellular and Molecular Pathology at the University of Bristol. He then went on to complete a medical degree at Barts and the London Medical School and a PhD at the University of Liverpool. He has been the successful recipient of three Royal College of Surgeons of England research fellowships (college, board and specialty) and a CRUK felllowship. Professor Dhanda has been a previous council member for the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and he is an elected board member for Faculty of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons of England. He completed his surgical training in Bristol, London, the West Midlands, and East Grinstead including a trainee interface group advanced head and neck reconstructive fellowship. His NHS surgical practice is limited to advanced head and neck reconstructive procedures including free tissue transfer and microvascular surgery. Professor Dhanda is also a practicing dental implant surgeon in the South East.

Research

Professor Dhanda completed a PhD in the molecular determinants of head and neck cancer using three-dimensional tissue modelling and transcriptomics. He supervises PhD students including a NIHR doctoral research fellow exploring the role of iKnife technology and robotic surgery in head and neck cancer.

Professor Dhanda is the founder and clinical lead for Virtual Reality in Medicine and Surgery (VRiMS.tv), a free for trainee resource using live streaming and restreaming of cadaveric surgical techniques in virtual reality. He is the successful recipient of over £1million from HEE to develop educational resources for multiprofessionals using extended reality (virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverse). He is conducting studies to scientifically validate the educational benefit of extended reality in medical education for multiprofessional using a combination of eye tracking, physiological sensors, and motion capture to determine whether virtual reality training can be at least equivalent to, or better than, conventional face to face training. He is also developing a skin cancer augmented reality app to guide surgeons in diagnosis and surgical techniques for managing facial skin cancer.

Teaching

Professor Dhanda is the founder and clinical lead for the East Grinstead Head and Neck Course, a cadaveric course in lower limb perforator free flaps, virtual surgical planning for facial reconstruction and advanced microvascular surgery techniques. He is also the cofounder of CRANIOMAX, a hands-on cadaveric course for ENT, neurosurgeons, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, aesthetic surgeons, and dermatologists. He uses a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality to train surgeons nationally and internationally. He is also coordinating a global health programme hosting rural doctors from low to middle income countries (LMICs) that receive cadaveric training in WHO Global Burden of Disease procedures. These training events are live streamed in virtual reality so that the experience can be shared with doctors and surgeons in LMICs around the world. He hopes to develop a free training and educational resources for surgeons utilising virtual reality and creating a ‘Netflix’ type app for restreaming virtual reality surgical training content.

Professor Dhanda is building a Metaverse School of Medicine and Dentistry to facilitate digital learning in the future and is the course lead for two new programmes at BSMS, the PGCert, PGDip in Dental Implant Reconstructive Surgery and the PGCert, PGDip in Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Selected publications

Dawoud BES, Kent S, Tabbenor O, George P, Dhanda J. Dental implants and risk of bleeding in patients on oral anticoagulants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Implant Dent. 2021 Aug 25;7(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s40729-021-00364-5. PMID: 34430994; PMCID: PMC8385035

Bowe CM, Bean T, Loke R, Gallagher N, Rooney J, Surwald C, Dhanda J, Moody A, Bisase B, Norris P, Barrett AW, Lachanas V, Doumas S. Merkel cell carcinoma of the head and neck in the south-east of England. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2021 Jun 25:S0266-4356(21)00240-0. doi: 10.1016/j.bjoms.2021.06.009. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34465487.

Barrett AW, Pratt MK, Sassoon I, Bisase BS, Newman L, Tighe JV, Norris PM, Dhanda J, Gulati A. Perineural and lymphovascular invasion in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. J Oral Pathol Med. 2020 Aug 20. doi: 10.1111/jop.13104. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32815232.

Butler D, Davies-Husband C, Dhanda J, Francis I, Gulati A, Kapoor K, Newman L, Norris P, Sadiq Z, Surwald C, Upile N, Vorster T, Bisase B. Head and neck oncological ablation and reconstruction in the COVID-19 era - our experience to date. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2020 Oct;58(8):1008-1013. doi: 10.1016/j.bjoms.2020.06.011. Epub 2020 Jun 17. PMID: 32576467; PMCID: PMC7298505.

Omran A, Hutchison I, Ridout F, Bose A, Maroni R, Dhanda J, Hammond D, Moynihan C, Ciniglio A, Chiu G. Current perspectives on the surgical management of mandibular third molars in the United Kingdom: the need for further research. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2020 Apr;58(3):348-354. doi: 10.1016/j.bjoms.2020.01.007. Epub 2020 Mar 4. PMID: 32143937.

Borsetto D, Higginson JA, Aslam A, Al-Qamachi L, Dhanda J, Marioni G, Franchella S, Frigo A, Praveen P, Martin T, Parmar S, Nankivell P. Factors affecting prognosis in locoregional recurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma. J Oral Pathol Med. 2019 Mar;48(3):206-213. doi: 10.1111/jop.12815. Epub 2019 Jan 20. PMID: 30576014.

Jundt JS, Marchena JM, Hanna I, Dhanda J, Breit MJ, Perry AP. Evolving Technologies for Tissue Cutting. Oral Maxillofac Surg Clin North Am. 2019 Nov;31(4):549-559. doi: 10.1016/j.coms.2019.07.009. Epub 2019 Aug 31. PMID: 31481290.

SERPINE1 and SMA Expression at the Invasive Front predict Extracapsular Spread and Survival in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. J Dhanda, A Triantafyllou, T Liloglou, H Kalirai, B Lloyd, R Hanlon, R Shaw, DR Sibson, J Risk. British Journal of Cancer, 111(11), 2114-2121. doi:10.1038/bjc.2014.500

Jayaram SC, Muzaffar SJ, Ahmed I, Dhanda J, Paleri V, Mehanna H. Efficacy, outcomes, and complication rates of different surgical and nonsurgical treatment modalities for recurrent/residual oropharyngeal carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Head Neck. 2016 Dec;38(12):1855-1861. doi: 10.1002/hed.24531. Epub 2016 Jul 13. PMID: 27405247.

Dhanda J, Pasquier D, Newman L, Shaw R. Current Concepts in Osteoradionecrosis after Head and Neck Radiotherapy. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2016 Jul;28(7):459-66. doi: 10.1016/j.clon.2016.03.002. Epub 2016 Mar 30. PMID: 27038708.