Profile

Professor Nikhil Vasdev is a leading international authority in robotic urological surgery and urological oncology, recognised for combining clinical excellence, surgical innovation, academic leadership, and global mentorship. His work spans advanced robotic surgical techniques, translational cancer research, artificial intelligence in healthcare, and influential leadership roles within the NHS and international academic institutions.

He is Professor and Chair of Robotic Surgery at the School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, having been promoted from Senior Clinical Lecturer in August 2022. He is also a Consultant Urological and Robotic Surgeon at the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Urological Cancer Centre, Lister Hospital, UK, and International Professor and Visiting Consultant Urological Surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. In recognition of his international standing, he has been appointed International Section Editor for Urology in the forthcoming Gray’s Surgical Anatomy (2026).

Professor Vasdev has served as Associate Medical Director for Cancer Services (Cancer Lead) at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust since October 2019. In this role, he has led major cancer service transformations and national performance improvements, for which he was featured on BBC News in November 2025. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as Lead Consultant (Cancer) for NHS England within the Trust. He completed the national Clinical Champion Programme with Prostate Cancer UK in November 2022.

An internationally accredited robotic urology proctor, Professor Vasdev operates and mentors extensively across Europe and Asia, including India, Hong Kong, Jordan, and Thailand. In 2022, he proctored Jordan’s first robotic surgery, and in April 2019 performed a live robotic cystectomy with urinary diversion at the Thai Urology Association meeting—only the second such procedure undertaken in Thailand at that time.

His contributions have been widely recognised. He received the Celebration of Clinical Excellence Award (2016) and Best Innovator Award (2017) from East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. In May 2020, he was awarded a Doctor of Science (DSc)—a higher doctorate—by the University of Hertfordshire for outstanding international contributions to robotic surgery. In 2024, he was named one of the 10 National AI Champions by UKRI/EPSRC-funded Responsible AI UK. He received the Award for Outstanding Contribution at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (December 2024) for research in AI and prostate cancer, the International Surgical Innovation Award by Zenith Global, London (October 2025), and a further Outstanding Contribution Award at Mount Sinai (December 2025) for innovative research in AI, robotic prostatectomy, and nociception.

Professor Vasdev’s specialist clinical practice focuses on urological oncology, with expertise in robotic prostate, bladder, and kidney cancer surgery. His practice includes robotic radical prostatectomy with NeuroSAFE intra-operative frozen section analysis, extended pelvic lymph node dissection, robotic cystectomy with ileal conduit or neobladder econstruction, robotic nephrectomy, and pyeloplasty. In 2019, he introduced robotic salvage prostatectomy and salvage cystectomy for patients with cancer recurrence following radiotherapy. In August 2023, he established the Robotic Aquablation Programme for Hertfordshire and had completed 130 procedures by January 2026. He also led the Blue Light Cystoscopy programme for bladder cancer in North Hertfordshire from February 2017.

Over 11 years as a consultant, Professor Vasdev has performed more than 1,750 robotic urological procedures, placing him among the highest-volume robotic urological cancer surgeons in the UK, with consistently excellent patient outcomes.

He is the UK’s first nationally accredited Robotic Fellow by the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the British Association of Urological Surgeons. During his UK and US robotic fellowship training, he was awarded a ChM (Urol) with distinction by the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for his thesis on intra-operative frozen section analysis to reduce positive margins and improve nerve sparing in robotic prostatectomy.

Professor Vasdev has an outstanding academic record, with over 240 peer-reviewed publications, 460 abstracts, 20 book chapters, and two textbooks on urological cancers. He serves on the editorial boards of 15 international urological journals, sits on national and international fellowship accreditation committees at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and is Network Lead for the Lister Robotic Urology–Vattikuti Foundation (USA) collaboration. He is a Clinical Advisor to Prostate Cancer UK, co-chairing national initiatives on MRI implementation and biopsy standardisation, and serves on the National Clinical Advisory Group for Prostate Cancer UK (appointed May 2023). He has also received NHS–AI recognition from Responsible AI UK for conducting AI clinical trials with direct patient benefit.

His surgical training includes gene therapy research for urological malignancies at the National University Hospital, Singapore, followed by basic surgical training in Singapore and Newcastle upon Tyne. He completed six years of higher surgical training in urology on a Type 1 National Training Number in the Northern Deanery, training at major UK teaching hospitals, with advanced robotic fellowship training at Lister Hospital, UK, and City of Hope National Medical Center, USA.