Mr Benjamin Thomas

Mr Benjamin Thomas is a consultant urological surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, specialising in urological oncology surgery including robotic surgery.

He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Melbourne and completed internship, basic surgical training and general surgical training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He completed urological training in Victoria, with the final year spent at the Royal Melbourne Hospital under Professor Anthony Costello, Professor of Urology, and completed his Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons during this time.
He then completed a urological oncology fellowship at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, under Professor David Neal, Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Cambridge, focusing on robotic surgery and complex oncological surgery. During this time he completed a Master of Philosophy in Medical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He completed a further fellowship under Professor Peter Wiklund at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, in complex robotic surgery, and was an invited visitor to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York.

He was a consultant urological surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, for six years, performing open and robotic surgery for bladder, prostate, kidney and testis cancer. He was the lead surgeon for complex testicular cancer surgery in the Anglian Germ Cell Cancer Network (East Anglia and North and East London), the lead surgeon for robotic surgery development in Cambridge, and previously Chair of the Urology Cancer Specialist Multidisciplinary Team in Cambridge. He was awarded multiple Clinical Excellence Awards at Cambridge University Hospitals.

He is actively involved in research, including as chief investigator and principal investigator in bladder and prostate cancer studies, and was a member of the National Cancer Research Institute Testicular Cancer Clinical Studies Group. He is actively involved in teaching and has been a supervisor at Clare College and Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. He is also a tutor in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Master of Surgery program and holds the position of Visiting Professor in Changzhou, China.

Practising at

• The Royal Melbourne Hospital
• Epworth Hospitals
• Melbourne Private Hospital

Areas of Specialisation:

Cancer Surgery:
Surgery for prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer, including open, laparoscopic and robotic procedures and complex procedures such as:
• Prostatectomy
• Cystectomy
• Nephrectomy, including caval thrombectomy
• Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection
Diagnostic procedures:
• Prostate biopsy
• Cystoscopy
• Orchidectomy

Robotic Surgery:
Benjamin Thomas performs robotic prostatectomy, cystectomy, nephrectomy and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection and has performed over 500 robotic procedures. He led the robotic cystectomy service in Cambridge and performs intracorporeal urinary diversion. He is one of the few surgeons to perform robotic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, including after chemotherapy. All his results have been submitted to national audits.

General Urology:
Benjamin Thomas provides a general urology service that includes

• Stone disease
• Lower urinary tract symptoms
• Infertility
• Erectile dysfunction
• Vasectomy
• Elevated PSA
• Haematuria

Qualifications

• MBBS (Melb.)
• PGrad.Dip.Surg.Anat. (Melb.)
• MPhil (Cantab.)
• PGCert. SQIL (Harvard)
• FRACS (Urol.)
• FRCS (Eng.)
• FACS

Current appointments

• Consultant Urological Surgeon, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
• Consultant Urological Surgeon, Epworth Hospitals
• Consultant Urological Surgeon, Melbourne Private Hospital
• Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne
• Court of Examiners, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Fellowship Examination

Memberships

• Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand
• European Association of Urology
• American Urological Association