Puneet Plaha

Professor Puneet Plaha is a Consultant Neuro-oncology Surgeon and Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Oxford, specialising in complex brain tumour surgery. He has been a Consultant Neurosurgeon at John Radcliffe Hospital, part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, since August 2012. During this time, he has held several senior leadership roles, including Lead of the Oxford Neuro-Oncology Multidisciplinary Team and Lead for Brain Tumours across the Thames Valley Cancer Network. Since 2019, he has also served as Chair of the Neuro-Oncology Section of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons.

Professor Plaha has pioneered minimally invasive endoscopic techniques for brain tumour removal and has extensive experience in awake brain tumour surgery, developing advanced approaches designed to maximise tumour resection while preserving neurological function. He also operates privately at The Wellington Hospital in London, where he works with a dedicated team of neuro-anaesthetists, neurophysiologists and specialist theatre staff, and frequently undertakes joint procedures with fellow Consultant Neuro-Oncology Surgeon Mr Vas Apostolopoulos.

Having performed more than 1,000 brain tumour operations, Professor Plaha is among the surgeons in the UK with the highest annual volume of awake brain tumour procedures. He is regularly asked to provide second opinions for complex brain tumour cases both nationally and internationally.

Alongside his clinical practice, Professor Plaha leads the Oxford Surgical Neuro-Oncology Research Group, focusing on how brain tumours affect neural networks, exploring innovative surgical technologies to improve safety, and advancing research into immunotherapy and novel clinical trials for brain cancer. He is currently Chief Investigator for the UK multi-centre NIHR-funded FUTURE-GB trial, which evaluates new surgical approaches for glioblastoma with the aim of improving quality of life while reducing surgical morbidity.

Professor Plaha has published extensively in the field of brain tumour research and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences. His clinical practice encompasses the surgical management of brain tumours including gliomas, metastases, meningiomas and ventricular tumours such as colloid cysts, as well as awake brain tumour surgery, minimally invasive endoscopic tumour resection, and brain tumour biopsy. He also undertakes spinal procedures including lumbar discectomy, excision of spinal tumours, anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, laminectomy, lumbar spinal decompression and cervical disc replacement.