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Clinical interests

Mr Issa is a national expert in the surgical and medical management of bladder and prostate cancers. He is an experienced surgeon skilled in both open and minimally invasive (robotic) surgery. He is a high volume surgeon with a surgical work load (robotic prostatectomy and robotic cystectomy) that ranks in the top ten in the UK. He is also one of a very small number of surgeons in the UK who perform a complete removal of the bladder with reconstruction of a new bladder (bladder substitution) using key hole surgery with the assistance of the surgical robot.

Mr Issa delivers a very advanced therapy for refractory non-muscle invasive bladder cancer combining chemotherapy with thermotherapy (mitomycin hyperthermia) to avoid surgical removal of the bladder. This service at St George’s is nationally renowned and receives referrals from the whole of the UK with very good results.

Professional profile

Mr Issa qualified in 1993 at Damascus University, Syria and earned a specialist certificate in general surgery in 1996. He then received his MD in surgery in 2001, also at Damascus University. In the same year he received his specialist certificate in urology, and in 2002 he attained a Certificate of the Arab Board of Specialisations in urology from the Council of Arab Health Ministers.

He subsequently pursued his career in the UK, and in 2006 he received a Certificate of Completion in basic surgical training, awarded by the Surgical Colleges of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2006 he was awarded the Fellowship of the European Board of Urology and in 2007 the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Urology.

He travelled to Bordeaux, France and Malmo, Sweden in 2009/2010 to train in robotic assisted surgery for bladder and prostate cancer.

He was appointed as a consultant Urological surgeon in St George’s in 2010 and in 2016 he became the Clinical Lead for cancer in urology at St George’s.

He is research active and works closely with the department of statistics at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He takes a lead role in research related to robotic surgery and the new treatments for bladder and prostate cancer. He is the principal investigator for several nation-wide clinical trials.

Mr Issa has published extensively and presented in national and international meetings on the the subjects of bladder and prostate cancer, and robotic surgery.

  • Member: Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) - 2005
  • Fellow: Royal College of Physicians (Urology) - 2007
  • Fellow: European Board of Urology (FEBU) - 2007
  • First prize: South Thames Urology Regional Meeting - 2011
  • Voted best teacher, Good Medical Practice student, St George's, University of London - 2010
  • Winner: Royal United Hospital Team Award, prostate brachytherapy team - 2007
  • Award of Appreciation, Higher Council of Sciences, Syria - 2000
  • Member: British Association of Urological Surgeons
  • Member: European Association of Urology
  • Member: European Board of Urology
  • Member: Syrian Urological Society
  • Member: Syrian Medical Association
  • Member: Syrian British Medical Society
  • Member: Medical Protection Society
  • Member: Bath Clinical Society
  • Member: British Medical Association