Mr Bassel Zebian

Bassel Zebian studied medicine at King’s College London before completing his neurosurgical training in London, rotating between King’s College Hospital, St George’s Hospital, and the Hurstwood Park Neurosciences Centre. He later undertook a paediatric neurosurgical fellowship at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

He is currently a consultant paediatric and adult neurosurgeon at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, one of the busiest neurosurgical centers in the country and a leader in neurosurgical innovation. In addition to his clinical role, he serves as the lead for paediatric, teenage, and young adult neurosurgery and is also the undergraduate neurosurgery lead at King’s College London. He is a reader (associate professor) in neurosurgery at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King’s College London. He is the Eduction Chair of the Intenational Federation of NeuroEndoscopy, the Chair of the NeuroEndoscopy Committee at the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and the UK representative of the European Society of Unilateral Biportal Endoscopy. 

Specialist Interests

• Brain and spine tumours – pineal, ventricular, thalamic, brainstem, and spinal cord tumours.
• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) disorders – hydrocephalus, intracranial cysts (arachnoid, colloid, pineal), IIH, NPH, SIH, Chiari malformations and syringomyelia.
• Endoscopy and minimally invasive neurosurgery.
• Neural tube defects – open and closed defects, tethered cord, fetoscopic repair of open spina bifida, myelomeningocele, and myeloschisis.
• Degenerative spine conditions – slipped discs, trapped nerves, and unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE).
• Paediatric neurovascular conditions – neurosurgical management of haemorrhages.

Previously, he served as training and education lead from 2015 to 2019 and is the patron of the King’s College London Neurosurgery Society, which was founded by the medical students he taught. He is actively involved in research, with numerous national and international presentations and publications, and serves as the principal investigator for multiple clinical trials.

He is the organiser of the International Endoscopy in Neurosurgery Course, a hands-on program covering cranial, spinal, and fetal neurosurgical endoscopy. 

For his pioneering work, he received a global innovation in healthcare award for developing endoscopic and minimally invasive techniques, allowing access to previously unreachable lesions. He leads the largest UK series of paediatric brain and spine tumour resections using Gliolan (intraoperative tumour fluorescence) and is at the forefront of fetoscopic repairs for open neural tube defects (spina bifida), a role that won him a second global healthcare award for establishing the only service of its kind in the UK.

His contributions to neurosurgery have been recognized with a national clinical impact award from the Department of Health and Social Care, which oversees the NHS in England.