Skip to main content

Associate Professor Malcolm West

Associate Professor Malcolm West is a consultant in general and colorectal surgery, with a sub-speciality interest in complex pelvic cancer (exenterative surgery), advanced abdominal cancer and minimally invasive colorectal surgery.

MD PhD FRCS

Training and education

  • Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery (MD) - University of Malta, 2000 to 2005
  • Doctor in Philosophy (PhD) - University of Liverpool, 2015
  • Specialist registrar surgical training - Wessex, 2014 to 2020
  • Intercollegiate fellowship exam (FRCS) - Royal College of Surgeons, England, 2019
  • Completion of specialist training - Wessex, 2020
  • Minimally invasive Maximally Invasive Colorectal Cancer (MiMICC) Senior Fellowship - Royal College of Surgeons, England at The National Bowel Hospital, St. Mark’s, London - 2020 to 2021.

Experience

Associate Professor West was appointed to the University of Southampton in 2022 as an associate professor in colorectal surgery and prehabilitation medicine. He is an honorary consultant colorectal and complex cancer surgeon at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. He was a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) clinical academic in Liverpool and the Wessex region, completing a PhD in exercise physiology, perioperative risk stratification and prehabilitation in rectal cancer, before taking up a NIHR academic fellowship and subsequent lectureship in surgery in Southampton. Associate Professor West was awarded the prestigious Royal College of Surgeons, England, Minimally invasive Maximally Invasive Colorectal Cancer Senior Fellowship in complex and robotic cancer surgery at the National Bowel Hospital, St. Mark’s, London.

As a complex cancer consultant surgeon, he specialises in the treatment of colorectal cancer including primary, advanced, and recurrent cancers in particular pelvic cancers. He performs open and minimally invasive (keyhole) surgery, exenterative surgery (including sacrectomy), intraoperative radiotherapy (IOERT), and cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HiPEC) for colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis. He is a core member of the colorectal and complex cancer MDTs and a JAG accredited endoscopist performing diagnostic and therapeutic colonoscopy.

Awards and prizes

  • Royal College of Surgeons, England Senior Fellowship, 2020 to 2021 - St. Mark’s National Bowel Hospital
  • Moynihan Travelling Fellowship, 2020 to 2021 - Association of Surgeons Great Britain and Ireland
  • Health Service Journal Value Awards, 2020 - Cancer Care Initiative of the Year

Research

Associate Professor West leads a programme of research aimed at improving outcomes in patients undergoing major cancer surgery utilising personalised risk stratification and tailored multimodal prehabilitation interventions including exercise, nutrition, and psychology. He studies the mechanisms of changing fitness, nutrition, and muscle function with cancer therapies, whilst using prehabilitation interventions to rescue and improve physiological resilience, metabolic health, patient-reported and long-term cancer outcomes.

He is a senior investigator for the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre and has led several clinical trials (>£5 million) including the EMPOWER study, WesFit – The Wessex Fit-4-Cancer Surgery (wesfit.org.uk), SafeFit (safefit.nhs.uk) and FrOGS (Frailty and Sarcopenia Outcomes in Emergency General Surgery).

He is an NIHR GlobalSurg core member with an interest in global surgery and cancer outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. He is currently the sub-speciality lead for the surgical research portfolio at the Clinical Research Network, Wessex and serves as the co-chair of the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme for southern England.

He has a keen interest in education and currently supervises PhD, MD, MMedSc and BMedSc students at the University of Southampton, where he is the MMedSc Deputy Module Lead for Research and the Southampton NIHR Clinical Academic Training Programme Lead.

Publications

  • Sarcopenia and myosteatosis predict adverse outcomes after emergency laparotomy: a multi-centre observational cohort study Annals of Surgery 2022;275(6):1103-1111
  • Influence of hospital facilities on patient outcomes following cancer surgery: an international, prospective observational study Lancet Global Health 2022;10(7):e1003-1011
  • Global variation in postoperative mortality and complications after cancer surgery: a multicentre, prospective cohort study in 82 countries Lancet 2021; 397(10272):387-397
  • From theory to practice: An international approach to prehabilitation Current Anaesthesiology Reports 2022;12(1):129-137

Contact

You can contact Associate Professor Malcolm West via his secretary Carey Rogers, on email Carey.rogers@uhs.nhs.uk