Roger Kneebone

Roger Lister Kneebone (born February 1954) is a British professor of surgical education at Imperial College London.

A graduate of St Andrews and Manchester universities, he performed trauma procedures in the war zones of Southern Africa before working as a general practitioner in Wiltshire and after completing a PhD. Upon return, he became involved in medical education based around simulation and computer-based learning, challenging the "documentary framework". He co-founded the United Kingdom's only Master's in Education in Surgical Education.

Early life Kneebone was born in February 1954 and attended Westminster School, London. He then studied medicine at St Andrews and Manchester universities. He received his PhD in surgical education from the University of Bath. before returning to London in the late 1980s. Over the next 15 years he practised surgery at the local cottage hospital, while he also continued to practice as a general practitioner (GP) in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and becoming increasingly involved in GP training.

In 2003, Kneebone left his practice to join Imperial College, London. His published dialogue with instalment artist David Cotterrell concluded with one point being that a greater sense of truth and empathetic understanding could sometimes be obtained from historical medical sketches and paintings than from photographic images and that simulation challenges the "documentary framework". In 2016, with Professor Aaron Williamon, he led the Royal College of Music – Imperial College Centre for Performance Science, tackling major challenges to performance in the arts, medicine, engineering, natural sciences, and business.

Writing In 2020, Kneebone's book, Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery, was published by Viking.

Personal life Kneebone lives in London. He is married and has two daughters. His hobbies include listening to jazz, playing the harpsichord and walking.

Selected publications "New professional roles in surgery", co-authored with Ala Darzi, British Medical Journal, 2005 Apr 9; 330(7495): 803–804.. “Simulation, safety and surgery”, Quality & Safety in Health Care. 2010 Oct;19 Suppl 3:i47-52. "Bringing surgical history to life", British Medical Journal, 2012; 345: e8135.. “Recapturing the History of Surgical Practice Through Simulation-based Re-enactment”, co-authored with Abigail Woods, Medical History, January 2014, pp. 106–121,